


Nothing Worse Than Knowing

by artist_artists



Category: Glee
Genre: Future Fic, M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-18
Updated: 2014-03-18
Packaged: 2018-01-16 03:23:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 41,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1330066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artist_artists/pseuds/artist_artists
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt and Blaine never dated in high school, but they stayed friends until Blaine's relationship with Sebastian drove them apart. Years later they meet again, when Kurt’s in the middle of his final semester at NYADA, juggling classes, jobs, and an on-again, off-again relationship with the only guy he’s ever dated. After running into Blaine, Kurt starts having dreams where he travels five years into the future - and it’s a future he isn’t pleased with at all. When Kurt enlists Blaine to help him attempt to figure out how to change Kurt’s present in order to repair his damaged future, it leads to unexpected results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Worse Than Knowing

**Author's Note:**

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> This is a future fic that’s canon-divergent after 2x15. Kurt and Blaine never dated, so Blaine never transferred to McKinley. Most other canon happenings unrelated to that still occurred in this world, though Kurt started at NYADA during the fall semester instead of spring.
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> This fic includes a passing mention of Finn's death and some effeminphobic language. It also involves some Kurt/OMC, past Sebastian/Blaine and current Sebastian/Blaine friendship, background Rachel/OMC, Santana/OFC, and some implied Sam/Mercedes.
> 
> I want to thank januarium for being so wonderful while I whined to her about this, and for being a lovely beta. Also thanks to assistanttotheroyalvizier for the read-through to look for typos! flipmeforward, amoungsoulsandshadows, and eloriee all read through the fic at various points and gave thoughtful, helpful feedback as well. orangegirl22 listened to me ramble about this fic in one of its earlier forms when it was very different, for which I am also quite grateful. I also need to thank the amazingly talented hopelesslydevotedgleek on tumblr for the beautiful art, and for being so easy to work with. This is the first time I’ve done any sort of structured challenge, and that made it a lot less scary for me.

 The first time Kurt Hummel travels in time, he thinks it’s a dream.

It’s a fair assumption, given the night it happens. He’s a few months into his last semester at NYADA, and it’s more stressful than the previous two semesters combined. With all of the work he’s been putting in for class and the hours he spends at his part-time jobs, Kurt’s exhausted. He hasn’t slept more than five hours at a time in months, and today he’s running on about three and a half hours when he gets a call from his roommate, Rachel Berry.

“I’m going to be home in a few minutes,” Kurt says after he answers her call. “I’m only a block away.”

“Don’t go home!” Rachel cries. “Go to Starbucks first.”

Kurt stops in his tracks. He can see Starbucks from where he is, just across the street. “Come get your own drink if you want one. I have stuff to do tonight.”

She lets out an exasperated sigh, as if it’s not something she’s ever asked of him before. “I’m not asking you to get me a drink! I’m already here. I have a surprise for you!”

“At Starbucks?” Kurt asks, frowning.

“Yes, and it’s very wonderful and you won’t want to miss it!” He can hear someone talking in the background, but Rachel shushes the other person quickly.

Kurt can see his apartment building from where he’s standing and he aches to be home, to take off these boots and allow himself a few minutes to relax before working on his blog for Vogue.com and then heading out to work a short shift at the restaurant, but Rachel sounds so excited that he can’t help but be intrigued. The two of them have been best friends since high school, and despite her tendency to get a little too wrapped up in herself sometimes, she usually has pretty good judgement when it comes to Kurt. For a moment, he lets himself get carried away by the thought that she might have met a casting director who just happens to be looking for someone _exactly_ like Kurt for a new musical. “Okay. I can only stay a few minutes, though. I just got out of class and I’m working tonight.”

“I know,” Rachel says. “You won’t regret this, though. See you in a minute!” She ends the call before he can reply.

Starbucks is crowded as always, but once he’s inside, it doesn’t take Kurt very long to spot Rachel. She’s at a table by the window, waving at him with a manic grin on her face. “Over here, Kurt!” she calls, beckoning him over.

He doesn’t realize she’s not sitting alone until he gets a bit closer to the table and a dark-haired man twists in his seat to give him a smile. It’s a look Kurt’s familiar with, but hasn’t seen in years - a wide, toothy grin, and eyes that are hopeful but a little unsure. It feels like someone’s hit Kurt in the chest, and he almost gasps aloud.

“Blaine?” he asks, stopping short. “You’re… wow.”

Blaine’s eyes crinkle as he lets out a chuckle. “Hi, Kurt.”

Kurt wants to look at Rachel, ask her what’s going on, but he can’t seem to tear his eyes off of Blaine. _Blaine Anderson_. He hasn’t seen Blaine in anything but the occasional Facebook picture since his senior year of high school, but the years haven’t changed him that much. Blaine’s as handsome as ever, though he’s casually dressed in jeans and a polo shirt. His hair is gelled down, not one strand out of place, and the only difference from high school that Kurt can see is the stubble on his face. It’s only a few days of growth, but Kurt had never seen him go a day without shaving before.

“Isn’t this exciting?” Rachel says. “I found Blaine!”

“I didn’t realize he was lost,” Kurt replies, still not taking his eyes off of Blaine. Blaine wasn’t lost, no, but Kurt really hadn’t expected to see him ever again, either. He’s not sure if his heart will ever slow down.

“Well, he was lost to us,” Rachel insists. “I knew you’d be mad if I saw Blaine and didn’t call you. It’s been years, hasn’t it?”

“Three years,” Blaine supplies, and Kurt almost argues. Finn’s funeral was three years ago, and Blaine had been there, but that didn’t count, not really. Kurt had barely been aware of it at the time. It’s been over four years since he and Blaine have seen each other and actually had the chance to speak. In the years since Finn passed away, they’ve become civil again, but beyond random Facebook likes and comments on birthdays, they don’t have anything to do with each other. They’re not friends. They haven’t been since Kurt’s senior year, when he stormed out of the Lima Bean, leaving Blaine behind after a heated argument over Blaine’s boyfriend.

“Three years! Well, you guys should really catch up, then,” Rachel says, getting out of her seat and grabbing her coat. “Here, Kurt, sit here. I’ll see you tonight!” She gives Kurt a hug, whispering, “you can thank me later,” in his ear. Blaine stands up to hug her and Rachel kisses his cheek. “You have my number now, don’t be a stranger!”

Blaine gives her a warm grin as they pull apart. “I won’t,” he promises.

Rachel heads toward the front door, sneaking a few glances at them before she exits, and Blaine turns his grin back to Kurt. “ _Kurt_ ,” he says, shaking his head in disbelief. “This is so crazy. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

Kurt opens his mouth, planning to agree, say something inane about they may live in the same city, but it’sa _big_ city, but he’s shocked into silence when Blaine pulls him in for a hug. Kurt’s too surprised to do anything but wrap his arms around Blaine, return the hug, the first one in years, and inhale Blaine’s cologne. It’s a new scent for Blaine, Kurt thinks, before remembering that he only knows what cologne Blaine wore in high school. For all Kurt knows, Blaine switched years ago. The scent is unfamiliar but not unwelcome, it’s still _Blaine_ , the person he had cared for so much once upon a time, and hugging him feels like coming home. Despite his initial shock, Kurt relaxes into the embrace.

When Blaine pulls back, his grin is even wider than before. “Do you have a few minutes to sit? If you don’t, that’s okay, I know Rachel sort of forced you to come here. I tried to tell her not to bug you if you were busy, but--”

“But she’s Rachel,” Kurt interrupts. “It’s fine, I understand. I can’t really stay long, though.”

There’s a flash of disappointment in Blaine’s eyes, but he recovers quickly. “Of course, I’m sure you’re very busy.”

“Yeah,” Kurt replies as he sits down in the seat Rachel vacated. “I’m graduating in May, and I write for Vogue.com sometimes, and I work at a restaurant, so…”

“It can be overwhelming,” Blaine agrees, sitting back down in his seat. “But you’re doing well, I take it? Other than being so busy?”

“Yes, I’m good,” replies Kurt. There was a time when he might have told Blaine the truth - that he’s overworked and exhausted, that his relationship with the guy he’s convinced is his soulmate has been off and on for the past year and is currently off and he can’t figure out how to fix it, that he spends most of the limited time he sets aside for sleep lying awake in bed worrying about the future - but Blaine is practically a stranger now, and this is all Kurt feels comfortable sharing. “How are things with you?”

“Good, good. I have another year left at NYU, so I’m starting to look at grad schools.”  
  


Kurt doesn’t even know what Blaine’s career plans are anymore, but he doesn’t ask. Continuing this line of conversation might lead to Blaine asking him about his own post-graduation plans, and Kurt always avoids that topic at all costs. “So… do you live around here? Where did Rachel find you?”

“I live in Manhattan, actually,” Blaine replies, running a hand over his facial hair. “But I was at my friend Patrick’s apartment a few blocks away, and Rachel stopped by. I couldn’t believe it!”

“You know Patrick? Small world.”

“Right? Rachel told me she’s known him for over a year, so I guess it was only a matter of time.”

“I guess,” Kurt agrees.

“It really is so--” Blaine is cut off by the buzzing of his phone on the table. “Oh, sorry, let me just answer this text really quick. It’s Sebastian, I’m supposed to meet him for lunch.”

Hearing the name Sebastian makes Kurt feel like he’s traveled back in time four years, back to the Lima Bean with Blaine across the table, blowing him off because he has plans with his smarmy, arrogant new boyfriend. Kurt hasn’t followed Blaine’s life too closely, but he knows that Blaine and Sebastian broke up a while back. “You and Sebastian are back together?”

Blaine looks up from his phone, surprised. “Oh, no, he’s my roommate. I’m just going to tell him that--”

“You should go,” Kurt interrupts, his tone icy. “It’s not like we haven’t seen each other in years or anything.”

Blaine frowns. “What? Kurt, I was just saying I’m going to cancel. I see him all the time, it’s no big deal.”

It shouldn’t hurt as much as it does, but Sebastian is the reason their friendship ended, and knowing that Sebastian is still such an important part of Blaine’s life, that they’re so familiar that canceling lunch plans is no problem, makes Kurt ache. This catch-up with Blaine was already uncomfortable, too unexpected, too unwanted, and now Kurt wants nothing more than for it to be over.

“I should go.”

Blaine’s eyes widen as Kurt stands up again. “You can’t stay a few more minutes? I’ll get you a drink, we can--”

“I have work tonight,” Kurt replies, and before he can think better of it, adds, “And you have Sebastian to get home to.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” Blaine tells him, eyes narrowing. “It’s been over four years, Kurt. Are you really still holding this over my head?”

“Well, it’s hard not to when you’re still choosing him over me.”

Blaine lets out a humorless laugh. “It was a text, Kurt. I would have ignored it if we didn’t have plans I had to cancel!”

“You don’t have to cancel, you can go,” Kurt says. “I have stuff to do tonight. I shouldn’t have come here.”

For a second, the anger on Blaine’s face turns into hurt. “And I shouldn’t have assumed four years was enough time for you to grow up.”

Kurt tries to hold back the flash of anger that courses through him. The people at the surrounding tables are starting to gawk, and this argument isn’t worth it. They’ve had it a million times, and Kurt is always left holding the blame. He’s over it. He _needs_ tobe over it, because it’s been years, and Blaine isn’t a part of his life anymore. Today doesn’t change anything.

“It was nice catching up with you, Blaine,” he says evenly. “I hope you enjoy your lunch with Sebastian.”

Kurt marches toward the exit and Blaine doesn’t try to stop him.

-

Kurt doesn’t get any work done before he heads to the restaurant that night. Rachel pounces on him as soon he gets through his front door.

“Back already? When are you guys going to hang out again?”

“We’re not,” Kurt says through gritted teeth. “What the hell were you thinking, surprising me like that?”

Rachel’s eyes widen. “Wait, seriously? You’re not happy? But it’s _Blaine_ , Kurt! I know you miss him, and he was so excited when I mentioned you!”

“Excited to rub Sebastian in my face,” mutters Kurt.

“What do you mean?” Rachel asks. “Sebastian was there?”

“Oh, he didn’t mention to you that he lives with Sebastian, huh?”

“No, I really got the impression that he…” she trails off, looking disappointed. “I can’t believe he has a boyfriend!”

“They’re not dating,” Kurt corrects her. “Well, _allegedly._ But they’re roommates.”

“Okay, so why do you care? He wanted to see you!”

Kurt raises an eyebrow, willing himself not to lose his temper. “Rachel, he answered a text from Sebastian right in front of me, and he made sure to mention it was a text from Sebastian. He knew it would piss me off.”

“That’s crazy,” she replies, rolling her eyes. “You’re overreacting.”

“I’m not. And also, you really need to stop trying to set me up with guys. Taylor and I are--”

“Broken up,” Rachel finishes.

“We’re working on things.”

“Kurt, you told him three months ago that you needed space. How much space do you need?”

“A bit more from you would be nice right now. I have stuff to do.” He doesn’t want to talk about Taylor. He loves Taylor, always will, and he knows that eventually they’ll sort things out and settle down, but after finding those text messages with another guy on Taylor’s phone, Kurt needs more time to forgive him. Neither of them are perfect, they’ve both messed up in the past - Kurt’s not entirely innocent of outside flirtation himself - and this is just another bump in the road. Still, Kurt’s not ready to face his future with Taylor quite yet.

She sighs. “Fine, don’t let me and my generous attempts to find you a guy you actually connect with get in your way. I got Blaine’s number, anyway, so it’s not like you can’t just call him later.”

“I’m not calling him.”

“We’ll see,” Rachel sings as she moves into the kitchen.

Kurt normally hates working at the restaurant, but that night the demanding customers provide a welcome distraction from his thoughts, and the shift passes quickly. It’s not so easy for him to find distraction at the apartment, and even though it’s past 11 when he gets home and he’s exhausted, falling asleep proves even more difficult than usual. Seeing Blaine again was a shock to his system that he can’t get over, though he knows it’s unlikely he’ll ever see Blaine again now. He shouldn’t want to see Blaine, he hasn’t wanted to in years. The ending of their friendship had been one of the hardest trials in Kurt’s life, his first real broken heart, and he’d finally reached the point where he didn’t think about it much. It hadn’t been a fresh wound anymore, he and Blaine had a civil but mostly non-existent relationship, and this wasn’t supposed to happen.

Kurt feels like a teenager again, when his mood could be so easily altered by the handsome boy with his blazer and his bright smile. Crushing on Blaine in high school hadn’t been so bad once Kurt got used to the idea that nothing would ever come of it. Blaine was safe and kind, and Kurt was used to taking whatever affection he could get. Blaine didn’t want him as anything more than a friend, but that wasn’t new for Kurt. No one did back then, and Blaine was a friend who understood him like none of his female friends had ever been able to, as wonderful as they were. Blaine had entered Kurt’s life at a time when he was desperate for someone to listen and understand, and Kurt was sure he wouldn’t let anything come between them.

That was before Sebastian.

It had all happened so quickly. One afternoon at the beginning of his senior year, Kurt left his last class at McKinley to find a text message from Blaine, telling him that they couldn’t meet up at the Lima Bean that day like they had planned, because he was going to get coffee with a new transfer student at Dalton. That night, instead of their normal nightly Skype conversation about New Directions drama and reality TV, Blaine had rambled on and on about the new boy. Sebastian Smythe was charming, smart, funny, and “very complimentary,” Blaine had explained the next day, blushing and scratching at the back of his neck, “in a sort of… not-so-appropriate way. But it’s kind of exciting.”

It hurt, but Jeremiah and Rachel had hurt, too, and they’d moved past those. Kurt attempted to seem supportive and got ready to wait out the storm, but unlike Blaine’s previous romantic interests, this one wasn’t so fleeting. Sebastian and Blaine were officially dating before the end of the week, and Blaine suddenly had a lot less time for Kurt. The time he did still manage to spend with Kurt was mostly devoted to gushing about his new relationship. Kurt disliked Sebastian on principle before ever meeting him, and _despised_ him once they were properly introduced. Sebastian was smug, condescending, and incredibly possessive, never going one minute without a part of him touching Blaine. Never letting Kurt forget.

Kurt and Blaine’s friendship didn’t end immediately. There were two months of growing distance and tension and fights before Kurt stormed away from Blaine at the Lima Bean, enraged and heartbroken. Kurt and Blaine haven’t had a real relationship in years, but Sebastian knows Blaine intimately and lives with him, sleeps just a room away. They share living space and meals while all Kurt gets is a generic birthday comment on Facebook. Kurt imagines Sebastian in an overpriced restaurant somewhere in Manhattan, smirking at the memory of his triumph over Kurt as Blaine tells him the story about his afternoon. It’s the last coherent thought he has before finally drifting off to sleep.

-

He wakes up in the future.

He doesn’t know it’s the future when he blinks into consciousness, not feeling at all rested. Makes sense, he thinks as he looks over to the window and sees that it’s still dark outside. He must have barely slept at all.

It takes him a moment to realize the window isn’t his own. At first, he’s more confused than startled as he tries to make sense of his surroundings. It’s dark in the room, with only a bit of light streaming in from a door that’s not quite shut. It’s enough light to determine that the comforter on the bed isn’t his, either, and the bureau and the closet are in the wrong place. This isn’t his room, this isn’t even his apartment, and once that sinks in, Kurt shoves the covers off of himself and nearly trips while scrambling to get out of bed. It’s not an apartment he recognizes at all - not Taylor’s, not Santana and Gina’s, not Mercedes and Sam’s, or John’s or Bryan’s or Lisa’s. He’s never been in this room at all, and yet he’s somehow fallen asleep here, in a strange bed, wearing pajama pants and a loose t-shirt that’s not his. It’s the unfamiliar clothes that really send Kurt into a panic. Who is he borrowing clothes from? Is this what waking up after a drunken one night stand feels like? As far as he can remember, his one glass of wine before bed hadn’t led him out the door to seek out guys. He’s only ever slept with one guy, and he hasn’t seen Taylor in months.

Before Kurt can make sense of his surroundings, he hears a noise from somewhere outside of the bedroom. It sounds like something sliding across a hardwood floor, and his heart starts beating faster at the knowledge that he’s not alone. It’s a chance for an explanation, but based on the strange circumstances, Kurt knows it’s likely that he won’t like the explanation very much. He pushes the door open and heads down a hallway toward the sound, and as he enters the dimly lit living room at the end, all he’s hoping for his a familiar, friendly face.

He sees Blaine Anderson.

This room, like the bedroom, looks lived in - there’s a couch, a coffee table, and a television, and the walls are full of framed pictures - but it’s full of cardboard boxes, like a lot of things haven’t been unpacked yet. Blaine’s standing amongst the boxes, hair curly and full of frizz in a way Kurt’s never seen before, wearing nothing but a pair of plaid pajama pants. He seems to be arranging the boxes in some way, pushing one across the floor to a separate stack, but he looks up when he hears Kurt’s footsteps.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” he asks. “I was trying to be quiet.”

It takes Kurt a moment to find his voice, and it still comes out a bit strained. “What are you doing here? What am _I_ doing here?”

Blaine just laughs. “I guess it will take a while to get used to living together, huh?”

“Living together,” Kurt repeats, feeling faint. He’s never been more confused in his life. “We live together.”

“Yep, no backing out of it now.”

Blaine sounds cheerful, so it’s probably not supposed to be a threat, but Kurt unconsciously takes a few steps back. How had he gone from an angry encounter with Blaine less than 12 hours ago to living in an apartment with him?

“I didn’t unpack any of your stuff, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Blaine says, frowning. It’s then that Kurt takes a good look at his face for the first time. Blaine’s facial hair seems to have doubled since Kurt saw him at the coffeeshop, and the knowledge makes him breathe a sigh of relief. Clearly, this is just a dream. He saw Blaine and argued with him and thought about the fight before he went to sleep, so of course his subconscious is going to give him weird Blaine dreams. It totally makes sense.

“Well, I should hope not,” Kurt says as he walks closer to Blaine, willing to play along a bit and see where this goes. It’s strange, having so much control in a dream. “My stuff needs to be unpacked in a very particular fashion.”

Blaine grins. “Oh trust me, I know. I was just making sure the last of Sebastian’s stuff didn’t get mixed in with yours, so when he drops by tomorrow, it’ll be easy for him to find.”

Kurt groans. “Oh god, even in my dreams, I can’t get away from Sebastian.”

“You dream about Sebastian?” Blaine asks, looking amused. “Should I be concerned?”

Kurt’s no longer in the mood for joking. “Why does Sebastian have stuff here?”

Blaine’s grin fades. “Please tell me you did not get out of bed just to pick a fight about Sebastian. This is our first night living together, Kurt!”

“And yet you spent it out here in the living room with Sebastian’s stuff. And _you’re_ the one who brought up Sebastian in the first place!” Kurt insists. This dream is just getting worse and worse.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Blaine replies, his voice laced with sarcasm. “I didn’t realize his name was not to be spoken in my apartment anymore.”

Kurt raises an eyebrow. “Isn’t it _our_ apartment?”

“Our apartment, whatever. I’ve already told you I’m not going to spend time with him anymore. I’m ending a 10 year friendship because it makes you uncomfortable. I don’t know what else you want from me.”

“Not rubbing his existence in my face every time you get the chance would be a good start,” Kurt snaps, trying not to let the remark about 10 years throw him off too much. It’s a dream, after all. He would have thought a dream where Blaine chose him over Sebastian would be a bit less of a nightmare. _Wake up_ , _wake up, wake up_ , he tries to will his brain.

Blaine breaks eye contact and runs a hand roughly through his curls as he replies. “God, Rachel was right, it was ridiculous for me to think things would get better just because you moved in. It didn’t even take 12 hours for this to start.”

“For _you_ to start it,” Kurt corrects, and it’s petty enough that he almost feels bad. Blaine’s face closes off immediately.

“You know what? I can’t do this right now.” He walks toward the hallway, and Kurt steps out of the way to let him pass and walk into the bedroom Kurt had woken open in just a few minutes earlier. It confirms Kurt’s suspicion that Dream Blaine is actually his boyfriend. Back in high school, this dream would would have been _amazing._

It’s only a minute before Blaine emerges from the bedroom wearing jeans and a t-shirt. He walks past Kurt without a word.

“Where are you going?” Kurt asks as Blaine grabs a hoodie that was draped over the back of the couch.

“Out,” is all Blaine says before he walks out the door.

“Isn’t it the middle of the night?” Kurt asks, searching for a clock. The only response he gets is the door slamming shut behind Blaine.

The dream should really be over now, shouldn’t it? He’s standing alone in an unfamiliar apartment. There’s nothing weird going on. He should be waking up, or moving on to the part of the dream where Blaine comes back, transforms into Bette Midler, and has a discussion with Kurt about her favorite 19th century fashion trends. He’s never had a dream get so uneventful.

A few minutes pass, and the dream doesn’t end. Kurt sits on the couch amongst the boxes, most labeled in his own handwriting, and watches the sunrise out the window while keeping one eye on the door.

Blaine doesn’t come back.

-

When Kurt wakes up around 7am in his own bed, he’s never been more relieved. Though he had known it was a dream even while it was happening, the whole thing had felt far too real. He’s never had a dream where he realized how messed up things were in the middle of the dream but still didn’t wake up. He hopes that will be the only one.

Despite his relief, Kurt doesn’t feel very well. According to the clock, he slept for about five hours, which is normal for him lately, but it feels like he hasn’t slept at all. Trying to keep his eyes open is painful and his body is heavy and hard to manage, but he has things to do today and he doesn’t have time to lie around. After dragging himself to the bathroom to take a quick shower, he hastily styles his hair and pulls on one of the pre-arranged outfits that have become his normal attire recently with his lack of free time to spend planning new ones.

When he enters the kitchen, Rachel greets him with the type of cheerful “Good morning!” that can only come from someone with a good job and a new, sexually-fulfilling relationship. Kurt just mumbles in response.

Rachel’s face scrunches up in sympathy. “Didn’t sleep well again?”

“I had a really weird dream,” Kurt explains. “Blaine was in it.”

“Ooooh, dreaming about Blaine,” Rachel says with a grin. “Tell me more!”

“It wasn’t a good dream. We were living together, I think? But we got into a fight about Sebastian, and he left.”

Rachel snorts. “How _shocking_. Did it make you want to apologize for being a jerk yesterday? Because I have Blaine’s number…”

“Not interested,” Kurt says. He considers explaining the dream in more detail - how strange it had felt, how much control he’d had, Blaine’s 10 year comment, how it hadn’t really felt much like a dream at all - but he’s not sure how unstable it will all make him sound, and Rachel’s already taken to mothering him more than he’s comfortable with. “You know, in the dream, you didn’t want us to be together.”

“I was in your dream?” Rachel asks, flattered.

“Not in person. Blaine mentioned how you warned us it would be a bad idea for us to live together.”

“Well, I’m sure Dream Me had her reasons,” Rachel says, lifting her chin in defiance.

“Dream Rachel is smarter than you,” Kurt says. “Blaine and I couldn’t even be in the same room for five minutes without arguing.”

Rachel rolls her eyes as she hands Kurt a banana. “Here, eat something good for you. Maybe you’ll feel less grumpy if your body has something inside of it besides chocolate chip mini muffins.”

“We had that whole basket, and it’s not like you were going to eat them!” Kurt says in his own defense. “I had to finish them before they went bad.”

She just raises an eyebrow at him.

“Seriously, Rachel. I can feed myself. And handle my own love life.”

“Okay, okay,” she says, lifting her hands in surrender. “But if you ever feel like handling your love life in a way that doesn’t involve keeping your first ever boyfriend on the hook because you’re too scared to cut the cord and move on with your life, I left Blaine’s phone number on the coffee table.”

Kurt lets out a frustrated sigh. Rachel means well, but sometimes she can be too much. “I am not keeping Taylor on the hook, I just-- ugh, nevermind, I don’t want to have this conversation again. I have to go to work now, but I’ll be sure to throw out his number when I get home.”

“So melodramatic,” Rachel mutters as Kurt takes his banana and heads for the door.

“That’s rich coming from you,” Kurt calls over his shoulder. “I’ll see you tonight?”

“Staying at Isaac’s,” she replies. “I’ll be home tomorrow.”

“Oooh, third night this week.”

“I know!” she squeals, and Kurt grins. He’s a little annoyed with Rachel’s behavior and more than a little bit jealous of her life right now, but it’s nice seeing her so happy. With the exception of a few brief flings, Rachel hasn’t dated since Finn died, and it’s starting to seem like Isaac might be the real deal.

“I hope you have fun.”

“I always do,” she says. “I hope you can catch up on some sleep.”

“Yeah, me too,” Kurt says as he heads out the door.

His day is busy enough to keep the strange dream mostly off of his mind, but when he finally crawls into bed after midnight, he can’t help but be reminded of the panic and anger he’d experienced the night before. _Even in my dreams, I can’t get away from Sebastian_ , he’d said, and how weird is it that everything from the dream is still so vivid? Usually after a day, all Kurt can remember are the vaguest details.

Tonight, all he wants is a long, dreamless sleep.

-

When he finds himself in the apartment from the dream the night before, Kurt almost laughs.

“Of course,” he says to the empty living room. “Dreamless sleep is too much to ask, apparently.”

It’s reminiscent of the dream the night before once Blaine stormed out. Nothing’s happening, no one’s there except Kurt, and he’s in the same clothes he was in the last time he was here. It’s the most boring dream he can ever remember having in his life. It doesn’t take long for him start exploring the apartment. The bedroom he’d woken up in the dream the night before is just as he remembers it, the bed still unmade. There’s a second bedroom that looks like it’s being converted into an office. There’s a desk in there, some bookshelves, and bunch of unpacked boxes. Kurt spends the most time in the bathroom, wondering what would happen if he tried to take a bath in the oversized tub which is so much more appealing than the one in his actual apartment. Maybe the hot water would even shock him into waking up.

He moves on, though, and finds a cell phone on the kitchen counter when he’s exploring the cabinets. The phone isn’t familiar to him, but it lets him know that it’s 10 o’clock in the morning on February 27th, and once he figures out how to get to the lock screen, his normal passcode unlocks the phone. Kurt shouldn’t be surprised, but he inhales sharply when he sees that the phone’s background image is a picture of himself and Blaine, smiling brightly with their faces smushed together. There’s something a little off about the Kurt in the picture, something that makes him not quite look like what Kurt sees in the mirror every morning, but he can’t place what the difference is.

Even after a few minutes of concentrated staring, Kurt still hasn’t been able to figure it out, so he abandons the cause and decides to search through the phone’s contact list instead. There are a lot of familiar names in there - his parents, Rachel, Blaine, Lisa, Sam, Mercedes, Bryan, Santana - but there are a lot of unfamiliar names, too. Kurt’s on his second scroll-through when he notices that Taylor’s name is missing from the list. It makes sense, in this strange dream-world where he’s living with Blaine, but it still hurts to see the man who has owned his heart for the past four years missing from his life.

He’s considering calling one of his friends, just to see what will happen, when the phone buzzes in his hand with a text from Rachel.

_Rachel Berry: A little birdie told me about your argument with Blaine. Our guest room is available for you if you need it, as long as I’m allowed to say ‘I told you so’ three times._

Kurt huffs out a laugh and taps out a reply.

_Kurt Hummel: That counts as one._

It’s strange, talking about an argument he’s so detached from. He’s not even sure if he was _in_ this argument. He remembers fighting with Blaine, but that was a different dream. Dreams don’t continue like this, they don’t pick up where they left off the night before, even when Kurt wishes they would. The fact that he’s in the same apartment and having another vivid, easily controllable dream is probably just a coincidence.

_Rachel Berry: I still get two more! Bring some stuff with you when we meet for lunch today, you can stay here until you guys work it out. Or until you get a new place!_

Before Kurt can reply, his phone buzzes with another message.

_Santana Lopez: so berry tells me you’re looking for a new place already. the old lady who lives next door to us is looking extra frail lately. if you can deal with the old balls &chain just a little longer, i can totally get you her apt when she croaks. my landlord’s obsessed w/me._

Kurt rolls his eyes. At least his subconscious has provided him with realistic interpretations of his meddlesome friends. These dreams are definitely a step up from the usual fare his subconscious supplies him with, at least in terms of realism and detail. Nothing is fuzzy or obscured. Everything is clear and available, ready to be explored, and Kurt’s noticing things he never has before in a dream, like refrigerator magnets, dirty dishes in the sink, and an issue of _Vogue_ sitting on the kitchen island.

The magazine catches his eye because it’s unfamiliar, and when he goes to take a closer look, his brow furrows. _Christina Ricci at 40_ is the main headline, but it’s one of the smaller headlines that he’s more puzzled by. “Spring ‘21 trends,” he reads aloud, frowning. It seems a little strange, an article about fashion trends five years in the future, and when Kurt checks the date on the magazine, he’s even more confused. It’s the March issue, which he’s already bought, and but his had Beyoncé on the cover, not Christina Ricci. And is Christina Ricci really 40? Kurt scans the rest of the cover, and when his eyes land on the address label. It’s Blaine’s, with an unfamiliar New York address, and Kurt almost laughs at himself for being so stupid. Of course the magazine isn’t one he recognizes. This is a dream, no matter how normal it feels, one where Kurt is living with Blaine and not in contact with Taylor and fashion magazines are from the future. Eventually, he will wake up.

By the time he meets Rachel for lunch a few hours later, Kurt’s not so sure he’s going to be waking up anymore. He decided to go, thinking that he either wouldn’t be able to leave the building or that he’d just sort of be able to teleport to the restaurant in a dreamy blur, but neither happen. He has to ask Rachel again for the meeting place and time, then look up directions from his current location on his strange new phone that’s far too difficult to figure out. Once he does figure out how to look up the information he wants, he also gets a whole lot of information that makes him feel pretty uncomfortable. The Internet thinks it’s 2021, too, and CNN’s homepage looks really weird and there’s a new president that Kurt hasn’t even heard of, and it’s sort of overwhelming for a dream. Kurt’s done a lot of thinking about his future, so it’s not weird that he’s dreaming about his future life, but he’s not sure why his subconscious has gone into such detail. Kurt’s future thoughts consist of marrying Taylor and being on Broadway and having a really great apartment with two bathrooms and quiet neighbors, not what cell phones will look like and who will be president in five years. He’s starting to feel like maybe this isn’t a dream so much as amnesia caused by head trauma or something. This feels like someone’s _life,_ and as he picks through the closet in the bedroom to find something acceptable to wear and finds his clothes mixed in with Blaine’s, he is 100% sure that this is not the life he’s meant to have.

The restaurant Rachel chose is just a short subway ride away from the Manhattan apartment Kurt dreamed himself into, and he finds it easily, after the long search through his wallet for a strange-looking MetroCard. The restaurant is upscale, which doesn’t surprise him. Rachel’s making good money in 2016, and always chooses fancier restaurants than most of their friends would want to pay for, so it makes sense she’d be doing it in 2021, too. He makes a note to look up her name and see what she’s been in lately, if he’s still here at the end of this lunch.

Rachel is already seated and easy to recognize as he’s led over to her table. Her hair is shorter and she looks more sophisticated than Kurt remembers, but her bright smile is the same as always, and she stands to greet Kurt with a hug and a kiss to the cheek.

“You didn’t bring anything,” Rachel says as they take their seats across from each other.

Kurt furrows his brow. He’d managed to find his wallet and some keys and shove them into his pockets before he left, but he couldn’t think of anything else he needed just to have lunch with Rachel. “Sorry, I didn’t know I was supposed to bring anything?”

“Well, you’re going to stay at my apartment, right? Or did you and Blaine already make up?”

“Oh! Um. Well, no, not yet,” Kurt says. He hadn’t even been sure he’d make it to lunch, let alone anything after. “But I don’t think I’ll need much. If I stay with you, it will probably just be one night.”

She raises an eyebrow. “And you won’t need anything for one night? I’m sure Isaac can lend you some pajamas or something, but if you think we’ll have the skincare products you require, then-”

Kurt interrupts her, excited to hear a name he recognizes. “Isaac! You’re still… that’s so great, Rachel.” He had noticed Isaac’s name in his phone earlier, but that had been before he realized he was supposed to be five years in the future.

She gives him a strange look. “Still engaged? Well, I should hope so, the invitations just went out.”

“Right, of course,” Kurt replies, unable to help his grin. Rachel’s only been dating Isaac for a few months, but he’s been great for her. Even if everything else about this fake future sucks, at least Rachel is happy.

“Are you okay? You’re acting weird.”

“Fine, fine. I’m just… happy for you.”

She sighs. “I’m sorry your love life isn’t going so great. I’m really not trying to rub it in your face or anything.”

“No, it’s fine. And my love life is…” Terrible, both in dreams and reality, he thinks, but doesn’t say. “It’s going to be fine. I think this whole Blaine thing was just a bad idea.”

“Can I use my second ‘I told you so’ now?”

“I can’t even believe I needed you to tell me so,” Kurt says. “I mean, the other d--, uh, that time when I first saw him again at Starbucks… it was _you_ who wanted us to-”

“Ugh, are you _ever_ going to let me live that down? I just wanted you to get over Taylor, I didn’t know you and Blaine would end up being such a _disaster_.”

Kurt wants to ask a million questions. How did he and Blaine even get together after that, what makes their relationship so awful, why would they move in together if they didn’t get along, but Rachel already thinks something’s off with him, and he doesn’t want to make it worse. He chooses his next words carefully.

“Maybe it’s time for me to move on from Blaine. I mean, it’s 2021,” he says, looking closely at her reaction to the year, but she doesn’t seem startled. “I’m getting closer to 30 every day, and Taylor and I… we were supposed to end up together. I should call him.”

Rachel’s eyes widen. “Call him? Why? He lives in Westchester with his husband and twin babies, what on earth will that accomplish?”

“Taylor’s married.” The news hits him like a punch to the stomach and he’s worried that he might be sick right there at the table.

“Kurt?” Rachel’s voice sounds far away. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

-

Kurt wakes up in his own bed, nauseated and sweating. Yesterday, he had managed to brush off the dream quickly and get on with his day, but today, it’s hard to will himself out of bed. It’s happened twice now, and this second dream was only scarier with the added information that it was supposed to be his future. The future he’ll have if he doesn’t change something? Is that what his subconscious is trying to tell him with these crazy realistic nighttime visions? Is he Ebenezer Scrooge being visited by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come? If that’s it, he’s pretty sure he’s already had his epiphany. He needs to get over himself and forgive Taylor and get him back. And if he doesn’t want any more weird dreams, he probably has to do it today.

It’s that thought that finally gets him out of bed. Rachel’s not home, which he’s grateful for. He doesn’t want to discuss the dream with her. The first dream had been different, he hadn’t understood, but two dreams in a row about traveling to the future makes him feel like he’s bordering on psychosis, and while he’d love someone to talk to, he doesn’t particularly want to share that with Rachel. Or anyone he’s close with, really. Though Sam would probably be happy to offer some non-Dickensian insight into time travel dreams and watch Back to the Future with him instead of acting like he was nuts, there’s no way he’d do it without mentioning it to Mercedes. Mercedes, like Rachel, pities Kurt enough lately. There’s no need to add more fuel to the fire. Telling Taylor about the the dreams is a bad idea, too. Kurt can’t imagine himself calling Taylor after months of silence and greeting him with “Hi, I just had some really scary dreams about my future where I’m in an unhappy relationship while you’re happily married to someone else, and I want to make sure that never, ever happens. I’ll pick you up at 7?”

No, that wouldn’t work at all. He’s exhausted and feeling kind of crazy and he doesn’t want to lay this burden on anyone who’s actually important to him. They’ll probably all just try and convince him it means he’s meant to let Blaine back into his life, anyway. Kurt wouldn’t be able to argue, really. The timing supports that theory. He saw Blaine for the first time in years, fought with him, blew him off, and then started having dreams where they were living together. Blaine’s reappearance triggered this, whatever it is, and maybe closure between them is what will finish it.

And his phone number is still sitting on the coffee table.

Kurt’s dialing the number Rachel scribbled down for him before he has time to think about what he wants to say. He doesn’t know what he’s going to tell Blaine, hasn’t figured out yet how they’ll get closure. Maybe Kurt needs to completely sever ties with Blaine, or maybe he just needs to apologize for his rude behavior at Starbucks so they can smile, shake hands, and move on with their lives with less bitterness between them. Maybe Blaine’s been having terrible dreams about his future since they met up again and is as confused and scared as Kurt is. Maybe it’s something they need to figure out together.

Before Kurt can press the call button, he thinks better of it, opening up a text message instead.

_Kurt Hummel: Hey, it’s Kurt. Can we meet somewhere today to talk?_

-

A few hours later, he’s sitting across from Blaine at a small table in the same Starbucks they had met in two days earlier. “Thanks for coming all the way out here,” Kurt says after an awkward moment of silence. “I know it’s a long way for you.”

“Oh, it’s no problem, I have friends in the area, so…” Blaine trails off as he toys with the lid to his drink. “I hope you still drink nonfat mochas. I probably shouldn’t have assumed, but you weren’t here yet and the line was long, so I-”

“It’s fine,” Kurt says. He’s already thanked Blaine for the drink. It’s oddly touching that Blaine still remembers his coffee order from high school, even if it’s not what Kurt would have preferred to drink today. “Thanks again.”

Blaine gives him a small smile. “You’re welcome.” His face is clean shaven now, and he’s dressed a bit smarter than he had been before, in slacks, a button-down shirt, bowtie, and cardigan. Kurt finds it hard to maintain eye contact. He still isn’t sure exactly how to go about discussing this with Blaine, but he knows he has to try.

“So,” he says, looking down, “what I wanted to talk to you about was--”

“I’m sorry, can I say something first?” Blaine asks. Kurt meets his gaze again, and Blaine looks so earnest that Kurt couldn’t deny him, even if the interruption hadn’t been welcome.

“Of course.”

Blaine sighs. “I just want to apologize for Thursday. I was rude.”

“No, I was,” Kurt says. “I overreacted. What you do with Sebastian isn’t my business anymore, and--”

“I brought up Sebastian because I knew it would make you mad,” Blaine interrupts. “It was childish.”

Kurt raises an eyebrow. “So you don’t actually live with him?”

“Oh, no, I do, and he really was texting me. But I didn’t have to tell you that. It was rude.”

The admission makes Kurt angry, but he takes a deep breath, willing himself not to start an argument. “Right. Well… still, I overreacted. It’s been years since you chose him over me--”

“Uh, that’s a pretty inaccurate way of putting of it,” Blaine interrupts, and Kurt gives up his attempts at being civil.

“Oh really? How exactly would you put it, then?”

“You gave me an ultimatum,” Blaine says, leaning back in his chair. “I shouldn’t have had to choose between my boyfriend and my best friend. The fact that you _made_ me is why I “chose” Sebastian.”

“You chose Sebastian because you were more interested in getting your dick sucked than spending time with someone who _actually_ cared about you!”

Blaine rolls his eyes. “Right, of the two of you, you’re the one who cares. The guy who has barely spoken to me in four years, not the guy I live with.”

“Wow, you _really_ like stressing that, don’t you? Yes, Blaine, I get it, you live with Sebastian, and I’m sure that’s really wonderful for you.”

“It is, actually.”

Kurt lets out a grunt of frustration. “God, why did I even think apologizing to you would fix this mess?”

“Fix what mess?” Blaine asks, more confused than angry.

Kurt’s quiet for a moment, unsure of how much he wants to reveal now that they’re arguing again. “Just… us, I guess,” he says. “I thought maybe getting some closure would help me.”

Blaine cocks his head to one side. “Help you? Is our relationship something that’s been bothering you?”

“Only since Thursday,” Kurt mutters.

“I was _trying_ to apologize,” Blaine insists. “You’re the one who picked another fight. If you want to work things out--”

“I’m starting to think that’s not what I have to do at all. Maybe the sort of closure I need is to just… not try to pretend like you’re part of my life anymore.”

Blaine’s eyes widen. “Kurt, I don’t want that. I didn’t realize…” he trails off, taking a second to gather his thoughts before continuing, then focuses back on Kurt. “Look, I know you said it’s only been bothering you since Thursday, but it’s been bothering me for _years_ , what happened to us. I hate that we could never get past it. You were so important to me in high school, and I always assumed that eventually we’d work things out.”

Kurt feels an unexpected surge of warmth in his chest at the earnestness in Blaine’s voice that melts away most of his anger. Kurt did come here to try and fix this, after all, even if resurrecting their friendship wasn’t really his goal. Kurt had never imagined that Blaine might be even more troubled than him by the way their friendship ended, that he’d be so desperate not to let Kurt slip away again. It’s nice to feel wanted by Blaine, even if it’s not in the way he would have preferred back in high school.

“I used to think we’d work things out, too,” Kurt admits. “But it’s been so long…”

“We could, Kurt,” Blaine says, leaning forward. “We live in the same city now, and--”

“We’ve lived in the same city for years,” Kurt interrupts, but Blaine ignores him.

“We have mutual friends. Rachel knows Patrick. If that’s not a sign, then I don’t know what is.”

It’s the mention of signs that finally persuades Kurt to reveal the real reason he wanted to see Blaine again. If Blaine believes in signs, maybe he’ll take Kurt’s sudden future visions as a sign, too, and not just as evidence that Kurt’s losing his mind.

“I think you might be right about there being signs,” Kurt says, and Blaine gives him a small smile. “The past two nights I’ve had these really weird dreams.”

“About me?”

“Yeah. They’re in the future, and we’re, um… living together, and dating, and fighting.”

“We’re dating?”

“And _fighting_ ,” Kurt stresses. “It seems like a really unhappy relationship. Rachel and Santana are really against it, and-”

Blaine interrupts. “They’re against it in your dreams? They were there, too?”

“Yeah, they’re like… really vivid dreams? They don’t actually feel like dreams at all, and I have full control of whatever I’m doing, and they last for _hours._ ”

“So in your dreams where you have full control, you’re picking fights with me?”

Kurt narrows his eyes. “I didn’t say _I_ started any fights, Blaine.”

“Sorry,” Blaine says, raising his hands in surrender. “I don’t know that you dreaming about us having an unhappy relationship is really a sign. We have had a pretty unhappy relationship, and you saw me again, so it makes sense that-”

“I’m a little scared that they’re not actually dreams at all,” Kurt blurts out before he can stop himself. He really doesn’t want to hear Blaine try to explain this away. “I know it sounds weird, but it feels like a warning. Like, a vision of what my future is going to be like, and it’s _awful_. I’m supposed to marry Taylor, I’ve always known that, and I don’t know why my subconscious would have to go to such lengths to convince me that dating you would be a nightmare. Of course I already know that, and--”

“Wow, thanks,” Blaine says dryly, cutting off Kurt’s rant. “Isn’t Taylor the guy you broke up with months ago? That’s what Rachel said.”

“We needed some time apart, but it’s not permanent,” Kurt explains. “Rachel’s delusional. Taylor’s the only person I can picture myself ending up with at all. I have him, you’re still carrying a torch for Sebastian…”

Blaine looks amused. “Carrying a torch for Sebastian? Where are you even getting this from?”

“Normal people don’t live with exes, Blaine.”

“Right, it’s more normal to dump your boyfriend while knowing full well you’re eventually going to get back together.”

Kurt bites back a rude retort and sighs. “Look, it doesn’t matter. I didn’t come here to fight with you. I came to see if maybe by apologizing, I could stop the dreams.”

“So you’re not actually sorry,” Blaine says slowly. “You think that somehow apologizing to me will cure your bad dreams, but you’re not really interested in being friends again.”

“I didn’t say that,” argues Kurt. “I _was_ kind of a jerk, but so were you. I just didn’t know who else to talk to about this. I’m already not getting enough sleep, and the past two nights it feels like I haven’t gotten any at all, which is another reason I don’t think these are dreams.”

Blaine’s face softens a bit. “Of course they’re dreams. What else would they be? You’re just really stressed and I guess having a past friend come back into your life was a little too much to handle right now. It totally makes sense that you’re dreaming about your future, Kurt. You’re about to graduate, and you’re worried about what’s going to happen. I’m sure it’ll pass.”

Kurt rolls his eyes. “Yeah, thanks for that expert psychological analysis, Dr. Anderson. Can I get a prescription for sleeping pills from you, too, or do you need more sessions to be convinced that I need them?”

“You know, that might actually help. Sleeping pills, or just… talking to a professional. Does NYADA have counselors on staff?”

“Sure, Blaine, I’ll just go into the student health center and say ‘Hello, yes, I’ve started time traveling instead of sleeping at night.’ That won’t get me sleeping pills, it will get me checked into a psych ward.”

“You’re not time traveling, though, you’re just having bad dreams,” Blaine says, and Kurt looks down, avoiding his gaze. He hadn’t meant to say time travel, not really, has tried to keep himself from even thinking them even though the idea’s been lurking in the back of his head since he saw the Vogue headline about 2021 spring fashion.

“Kurt?” Blaine continues when Kurt doesn’t reply. “You know they’re just dreams, right? You don’t actually think…”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Kurt mutters, still not making eye contact. “Without feeling it, you can’t. It’s just… it’s not really a dream. I’m calling it that because I don’t know what else to call it, but it’s _not_ a dream. I’m there, and it’s 2021, and _nothing_ is right. It’s barely even afternoon and I’m already dreading going to sleep tonight, because I know it’s going to happen again.”

There’s a long silence before Blaine replies. “I really do think you should talk to someone about this.” When Kurt snaps his head up, eyes ablaze, Blaine quickly continues. “And if you don’t want to go see a therapist, you could at least tell your dad, or maybe Rachel?”

“I’m telling _you_ ,” Kurt says. “Everyone else is already so worried about me, if I told them this they’d never let it go. I need to fix this without their help.”

Blaine’s frowning again, looking worried, and Kurt has to blink back tears. This is not how he imagined this going at all. Blaine thinks he’s crazy, and that makes Kurt’s suspicions that he’s crazy seem even more plausible. He should have just apologized and left their relationship in an amiable but distant place, should have kept his mouth shut about dreams and time travel and just hoped that tonight would be different.

“I don’t know why you think I can help you,” Blaine says after a minute. “We’ve barely spoken in years.”

“It’s something to do with you. It started immediately after I saw you.” Kurt sighs. “I thought that maybe if we just found some closure, that I wouldn’t feel so unsettled about this and it would stop? And I wondered if the same thing was happening to you, but apparently not.”

Blaine huffs out an awkward laugh. “No, definitely no time travel for me. But if closure will help you feel better, we can do that, right? We both apologized, and we can accept that, and move on, and… maybe that will help the dreams.”

“Maybe,” Kurt agrees, but he doesn’t really believe it. Now that he’s said the words out loud, this feels like a much bigger problem.

“And you should try relaxing a bit, too,” Blaine says, and when Kurt opens his mouth to argue about how he has no time for that, Blaine cuts him off. “I know you’re busy, Kurt, but maybe just take tonight off and don’t do any work. Take a bubble bath or something, catch up on Vogue. Do you still read Vogue?”

“Obviously,” Kurt says, giving Blaine a small smile. “I can’t take the night off, though. I have to work in a few hours.”

“Call in sick,” Blaine urges. “I bet you never do.”

Kurt has worked at the restaurant for over three years and only called in sick when he had the flu and couldn’t physically remove himself from his bed, but he still doesn’t like the idea of missing work. “I need the money, Blaine.”

“If I give you $50, will you stay home tonight?”

Kurt knows Blaine’s making the offer out of kindness, but it still stings. “No, but thank you for the reminder that money isn’t something you have to worry about. That really helps.”

Blaine lets out a frustrated sigh. “God, Kurt, you’re the one who wanted my help. I’m not sure what you expect me to do. I really think if you just relax a little bit and catch up on sleep--”

“It’s basically impossible for me to sleep right now,” Kurt interrupts. “Even when I’m sleeping, I’m not actually sleeping.”

“Because you’re so stressed! My senior year of high school, I couldn’t sleep well either, because I was so worried about everything going on, and I learned some relaxation techniques that really helped me out, and now, even with the end of every semester being so crazy, it never really messes me up like it used to. I can email you some of the information I have. It’s worth a shot, Kurt.”

He knows it’s not going to help, but Blaine’s devotion to fixing the problem is starting to calm Kurt’s nerves. “I can’t call in sick, but I have tomorrow off. So maybe I can try your suggestion then.”

When Blaine grins, Kurt feels like he’s 17 again, sitting across from Blaine at the Lima Bean and trying not to blush every time Blaine shows his approval. “I really think it will work wonders,” Blaine says, bringing Kurt back into the present. “I’ll make sure I put together that email tonight. Do you still use your old email, or…?”

“Yeah, that address is fine. It’s attached to my Facebook, if you don’t remember it.”

Blaine laughs, like the idea is ridiculous. “Of course I still remember your email.”

“You did remember my coffee order,” says Kurt, smiling. “Though, for future reference, if you’re going to buy me coffee, I generally just go with a medium drip these days.”

“Good to know. Have you considered switching to decaf? It might help you sleep.”

“I don’t function without caffeine, so I wouldn’t suggest adding that one to your email,” Kurt says. “You can leave the bubble bath off, too. It won’t help.”

Blaine raises an eyebrow. “Kurt Hummel, scorning a bubble bath? It’s like I don’t even know you.”

“Our tub is kind of small,” Kurt says, shrugging. “And the hot water has been really unreliable lately. If we get it at all, it lasts approximately 20 seconds before turning lukewarm. We’ve learned to live with two minute showers. Baths are pretty much out of the question, unless I want to boil water.”

“Have you talked to your landlord about that?” Blaine asks, horrified by the idea at living in such squalor.

“Multiple times. It will be fixed for a day and then go right back to arctic temperatures. We’re looking around for a new place, but it’s been hard finding anything in our price range.”

Blaine winces in sympathy. “Yeah, it’s rough. You could come over if you want. We have a human-sized bathtub and working hot water.”

Kurt furrows his brow. “You’re inviting me over to your apartment to take a bath?”

“Yeah, it sounded less creepy in my head,” Blaine says, cringing. Kurt can’t help but laugh. “I just meant… you said you’re off tomorrow, and it’s just a crime you haven’t had a proper bath in ages. And I could give you this book I have on relaxation, too!”

“Oh, I don’t know, Blaine...” It’s a tempting offer, if only because the past few minutes of talking to Blaine has been the first time he’s been distracted from his future visions all day, but Blaine doesn’t live alone, and Kurt has no desire to ever see his roommate again.

“Sebastian won’t be there, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Blaine assures him. “He flew back to Ohio this morning. His sister just had a baby. His flight home doesn’t land ‘til 10 o’clock tomorrow night.”

It’s hard to imagine Sebastian flying home to meet his sister’s baby. It’s hard to imagine Sebastian having a sister, even, and it takes Kurt a minute to give up on trying to see Sebastian as a normal person doing normal things like caring about his family. “Umm… can I get back to you later?”

“Of course,” Blaine says quickly. “I’ll text you my address, you can just stop over whenever. Or not at all, if you don’t want to, but I’ll be home all day, working on a paper. You can just text me if you come over and I’ll come downstairs and let you in. I have really good stress-relieving bubble bath, if that sways you. Or, um, you could bring your own, I know you’re very particular about all the products you use, and-” He cuts himself off when he sees how amused Kurt looks. “I’m rambling, sorry,” he finishes with self-conscious smile, and Kurt lets himself pretend, for just a minute, that Blaine’s doing all this because he wants to spend time time with Kurt and not just because he’s become convinced that Kurt is insane and he pities him.

“I’ll let you know, okay?” Kurt says when he’s brought himself back to reality. “I should get going, though, get some school work done before I head into work. Thank you again for coming all the way out here.”

“No problem,” Blaine says, eyes not leaving Kurt’s as Kurt stands up. “Hopefully I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“I’ll let you know,” Kurt repeats as he puts on his coat, but he’s already made his decision. They’re leaving things in a positive place right now, and if this doesn’t help him sleep tonight without traveling five years into the future, he highly doubts going over to the apartment Blaine shares with Sebastian to take a bath will change anything, either. “Have a good night, Blaine.”

“You too,” Blaine replies. “I hope you sleep well.”

-

Kurt does not sleep well.

As soon as he finds himself in that strange apartment again, pale moonlight shining through the kitchen window, he’s angry with himself for even considering that he might have fixed the problem by talking to Blaine. In his frustration, he kicks the island. The sound echoes through the empty kitchen, and Kurt admires his boots. They’re not a pair he owns currently. If nothing else, it’s nice to know that he still has good taste in footwear in the future.

“I thought you said you were leaving.”

The voice startles Kurt, and he whips around quickly to see Blaine standing in the entryway of the kitchen. He doesn’t look quite like the Blaine Kurt fought with here a few days ago. This Blaine is clean-shaven and dressed well, but clearly a bit older than the Blaine Kurt met with this afternoon. His face is stony and his voice stern, and Kurt immediately knows that something is very wrong.

“Um… sorry, I got distracted, I guess,” he tries.

“Well, now that you’re not distracted anymore, you should go.”

Kurt’s never heard Blaine’s voice sound so cold, not even during the worst of the fights they’d had over Sebastian back in high school. It’s more troubling to him than anything he’s seen so far in this future world. He’s missed something, clearly, because the last time he was here he was talking to Rachel, but now he’s back in this apartment and Blaine is back and they’ve fought again, but Kurt doesn’t know what about. He knows he’s getting kicked out, though, sent off to stay with Rachel or Santana or one of the contacts in his phone he doesn’t even recognize because he hasn’t met them yet, where he will be reminded that moving in with Blaine was a terrible mistake he never should have made.

As he opens his mouth to stammer out a reply, to try and convince Blaine to let him stay here and gather info about this dysfunctional relationship rather than sending him off into the world of “I told you so”s, he sees the living room beyond Blaine is clear of all the boxes that had been there in both of his previous visits.

“I can’t keep doing this, Kurt,” Blaine says before Kurt can figure out what to say. “I’m exhausted.”

Finally, Kurt finds his voice. “It will get easier, I think. The living together thing. We’re just stressed and nervous, that’s all. I know that with Rachel, it took a little while to-”

“Two years is more than enough time for us to get used to living together,” Blaine says. “This isn’t about that, and you know it.”

“Two years,” Kurt repeats, confused. If he’s lived with Blaine for two years, that must mean it’s 2023. Does this mean he and Blaine got over their fight about Sebastian? Does this mean he’s _thirty_?

“Kurt, I don’t know why you’re dragging this out, I really think-”

“Can’t I just stay here tonight?” Kurt interrupts. “I don’t have anywhere to go. I’ll sleep in the other room, I just..”

Blaine doesn’t wait for him to finish, letting out a heavy sigh and heading back toward the hallway. When Kurt hears a door slam, he starts looking for his phone, which he finds in his pocket. It’s the same phone he’d had during his other visits, but the background picture isn’t of him and Blaine - it’s him with Rachel and Santana, holding margaritas. His phone also tells him it’s February 28th, but when he searches for confirmation on the year, he’s surprised to find that it’s still 2021. Somehow, all of this has changed in one day, and everything Kurt thought he was starting to understand about his visits to the future no longer makes any sense.

He’s too upset to go through with his information gathering plan, on the verge of a panic attack as he heads into the room he remembers as an office, but now looks more like a guest bedroom. He curls up in bed without undressing or even removing his boots, desperately hoping that he will be able to fall asleep quickly and wake up again in his own apartment with Rachel snoring in the next bedroom and Blaine a long subway ride away, wondering whether or not Kurt will show up tomorrow.

He watches the clock on the wall for almost five hours before it happens.

-

Kurt’s showered, dressed, and out the door before his brain can catch up with his body, on a subway heading toward Manhattan, toward _Blaine,_ at the address he’d received in a text message only a few minutes after leaving Starbucks the day before. Apologizing to Blaine hadn’t fixed anything, but Kurt’s more certain than ever that Blaine is the key to this whole mess. Blaine is also already pretty convinced that Kurt has lost his mind, so there’s no need to burden anyone else with this. It doesn’t involve anyone else anyway, as far as Kurt has seen. He hasn’t dug too deeply in the future world, but he’s been given no indication that anyone else’s life has ended up as wrong as his and Blaine’s. It’s just the two of them, stuck together and incredibly unhappy, and the only thing Kurt knows for sure is that they need to work together to fix it.

The block that Blaine lives on looks familiar, but it doesn’t immediately concern Kurt. He’s been to a lot of places in New York, eaten and shopped and visited friends all over the the five boroughs, so it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that he’s been in the area before. It’s not until he reaches Blaine’s building that the sense of dread that’s slowly been fading as he gets used to being back in the present starts to return. He knows this building, recognizes the five stone steps leading up to the locked door. He walked down these steps a few days ago in what he’d thought was a dream, on his way out to meet Rachel for lunch and get his second “I told you so.”

It throws him off so much that before texting Blaine to come let him in, he scrolls up the text conversation to make sure it’s just the messages they’ve sent each other in the past 24 hours, then does a quick check on CNN to make sure he’s still in the right year. When he sees the confirmation that he’s still in 2016, he tries to calm himself with deep, even breaths as he sends out a message to Blaine announcing his arrival. A lot of buildings look the same. This doesn’t prove anything.

He doesn’t have to wait long before Blaine appears in the doorway, his hair ungelled and his shirt untucked and half unbuttoned.

“Sorry, I didn’t think you’d be so early,” he apologizes as he opens the door and stands aside to let Kurt in. “Actually, I was pretty sure you weren’t going to come at all.”

“I wasn’t,” Kurt admits, taking in the small entryway around them. If it’s not the same building he was in a few nights ago, then one of them is a stunning reproduction. “Sorry for not giving you any notice.”

Blaine smiles. “Oh, it’s totally fine, I’m glad you came. I just haven’t been up very long.”

“Yeah, I get up kind of early,” Kurt mumbles.

“Come on,” Blaine says, taking Kurt’s hand, “let’s go upstairs.”

For the second time in as many days, Kurt feels 17 again, holding a boy’s hand for the first time as he’s pulled through the halls of Dalton. It’s enough to momentarily ignore the fact that this isn’t the first time he’s been in this stairwell, but once they get to Blaine’s floor and Blaine lets them into the apartment, it becomes harder to ignore.

“I’ve been here before,” Kurt blurts out, taking in the all-too familiar living room. He can see the kitchen island that his big toe still hurts from kicking last night out of the corner of his eye. It feels like his throat is closing up.

“Um, I don’t think so,” Blaine says, shutting the door behind them. “Unless someone else invited you over, which I doubt.”

“No, this is where we live in 2021. This is… I slept in that bedroom last night, or tried to, at least,” Kurt says, his voice higher than normal as he points down the short hallway. “The walls are light blue and the window leads out onto a fire escape. The other night, it was an office instead.”

Blaine looks down the hall, then back at Kurt. “That’s Sebastian’s room.”

“It’s the guest bedroom now. Or… in the future, it is. He doesn’t live here, it’s just us, and we were fighting, and you wanted me to leave, but I slept there instead. This is the apartment, Blaine! This is where I’ve been for the past three nights! It means that they’re not actually dreams, because my subconscious could not _invent_ this very real apartment that I had never been to before today!”

Blaine takes a step back from Kurt, startled by the outburst. “Maybe it was just an apartment sort of like this one. Maybe… maybe you’re psychic!”

Kurt glares at him. “Because me being psychic is any more realistic?”

“Than you time traveling in your sleep?” Blaine asks with an arched eyebrow. “Do I really need to answer that?”

“Thanks for respecting how truly terrifying this is for me, Blaine. You know, last night’s was the scariest of them all. It was only a day later, but _everything_ was different. At least before that it felt like I was getting a handle on the whole future thing. If it’s going to change every night, I’ll never be able to make any sense of it,” Kurt babbles. “I’m never going to be able to sleep again, because god knows where I’ll end up, or who I’ll end up with. I mean, it’s supposed to be Taylor, it’s always supposed to be Taylor, but now future me is stuck with you, and--”

Blaine’s voice is gentle when he interrupts. “Kurt,” he says, reaching out to touch Kurt’s arm. “Calm down, okay?”

Kurt yanks his arm away. “I can’t calm down! And you shouldn’t, either. This affects you too, you know. We’re _both_ really unhappy in the future, it’s not just me. This is _not_ how things are supposed to go for either of us. We need to fix it, Blaine, but I have no idea how.”

“Not to repeat myself, but I’m still leaning towards sleeping pills and a good therapist,” Blaine says, and Kurt grunts in frustration, tears stinging his eyes as he turns around and starts walking toward the door.

“If you’re not going to take this seriously, I’m going to leave. I’m going to start having flashbacks being in this apartment, anyway.”

“Kurt, wait!” Blaine calls, closing the distance between them. “I’m sorry, it’s just sort of hard for me to believe that you’re visiting the future. You have to admit, it sounds pretty crazy.”

“Well, you weren’t there.”

“I wasn’t. But look, it’s not the end of the world, okay?” Blaine asks, looking Kurt in the eye. “Because if it actually _is_ the future, which I doubt… that means you can still change things. It’s not like the future’s a static thing, right?”

“Right,” Kurt murmurs, remembering his Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come thoughts from the day before. “I can change it. We can change it, so we don’t end up that way, and that you can end up with Sebastian--”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“And I can end up with Taylor, and everything will be the way it’s supposed to be.”

Blaine sighs. “I’m still advocating for my ‘bubble bath and a good night’s sleep’ plan before we do anything too drastic, Doc.”

“Doc?”

“Doc Brown, from Back to the Future! You know, the guy with the… nevermind,” Blaine finishes when he sees Kurt’s glare. “I just think we should determine whether or not your dreams are actually about the future, is all.”

“Blaine, I was in this apartment. Isn’t that enough?”

“So you’re saying you are 100% convinced that you’re getting transported into the future whenever you fall asleep?”

Kurt thinks for a moment, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth. “Maybe not 100% convinced…”

“Okay, well, if it happens again tonight, maybe there’s a way you could check.”

“I look up the date when it happens. It’s 2021.”

“Right, but maybe you could somehow do something now that would be noticeable later…” Blaine trails off to think.

“Like a tattoo?” Kurt asks, not sure exactly what Blaine means.

“That might be a little drastic.”

“I could gouge a hole in your floor somewhere and see if it’s still there.”

Blaine cringes. “I was thinking something less destructive.”

“And I guess that wouldn’t work if future you has actually kicked me out by the time I get back there,” Kurt adds, shuddering at the thought. “I’d have no way to check.”

“Right, that too,” Blaine says, still sounding skeptical. “How about…” he looks around the room, eyes landing on a stack of blue sticky notes on the coffee table. “Here,” he says, walking over to the table and peeling one off of the top.

“A Post-It?” Kurt asks, frowning as Blaine folds it and hands it over to him. “How will this help?”

“Put it into your wallet. If you notice later that you’re in the future and it’s still there, then maybe that means there’s actually something weird going on and it’s not just a dream.”

“My subconscious could just put a Post-It note in my wallet, though. I mean, if I want it to be there, couldn’t I just put it into a dream?”

“I guess, but why would you want it to be there?”

“Good point,” Kurt admits. “I really, really don’t. But this is a stupid plan, anyway. It’s five years in the future, Blaine. I’m not going to be using the same wallet.”

“Well, no, but now you know that this piece of paper is important, and when you get a new wallet, you’ll transfer it over, because you know that it’s necessary to determine whether or not you’re actually in the future.”

Kurt eyes the paper skeptically. “I don’t know, Blaine…”

“It makes sense!” Blaine insists, and Kurt almost smiles at how pleased he is with his idea. “If you don’t see the paper, you know there’s a pretty good chance it’s just a dream. If you do see it…”

“Then you’ll believe me?”

“Then... we’ll figure something out,” Blaine amends. “Remember, it might not even be an issue. You haven’t even tried my magical bubble bath cure yet.”

Kurt rolls his eyes. “Right, and your relaxation book. Can’t forget that.”

“Exactly.” Kurt can tell Blaine is glad for the slight change in topic. “So what do you say, Kurt,” he adds, waggling his eyebrows so exaggeratedly that Kurt can’t help but laugh. “Can I run you a bath?”

-

The bubble bath doesn’t help.

Kurt hadn’t expected it to, really, but after spending most of the day with Blaine, he had felt a lot more relaxed than the previous nights before going to bed, and he’d held on to the hope that the night would go differently. He falls asleep soon after he gets back to his own apartment, but he’s immediately brought somewhere else. It’s not Blaine’s apartment, which he’s grown accustomed to, but a crowded bakery he’s completely unfamiliar with.

“Kurt,” a tiny girl with dark hair and an apron reprimands him. “The soy latte?!”

Kurt takes in her narrowed eyes and pursed lips, then gives his surroundings a quick once-over. He’s not just in a bakery - he’s behind the counter, and he’s wearing an apron, too. “Um…”

The girl throws up her hands in frustration. “What is _with_ you today? Do you see how long this line is?”

“Sorry,” Kurt says meekly. He’s trying to ground himself, but it’s hard. He’s never been dropped anywhere but Blaine’s apartment, and while he’s glad there doesn’t seem to be any emotionally draining relationship argument on the horizon in this vision, he’s still pretty overwhelmed. He’s worked at a coffeeshop before, though, and this might not be the hardest of the challenges he’s faced. When he sneaks a look at his coworker’s nametag, he grimaces when he sees JEN - MANAGER. Of course, he’s screwing up in front of his boss. It doesn’t stop him from asking what he wants to ask. “It’s still 2021, right, Jen? Is it February?”

Jen’s eyes soften a bit. “God, you really are out of it, aren’t you? It’s March 1st, Kurt. Rabbit, rabbit, remember?”

“Rabbit, rabbit,” Kurt echoes. “Sorry, I’ve had a rough few days.”

“I know things have been really rough for you,” Jen says. “Look, Matt’s going to be here in a few minutes, why don’t you leave a little early? We should be able to handle it. Get some sleep, okay?”

Kurt lets out a sigh of relief, thankful that she’s understanding enough to let him leave so he can’t further damage Future Kurt’s livelihood. Before excusing himself, he tries to come up with a way to get more information out of her. “I have been having a hard time… because of Blaine,” he says, trying not to make it sound too much like a question.

“I know, sweetie,” she says. “And you’re off tomorrow, right?”

“Um… I think so, yeah.”

“Good, catch up on sleep, take a bath, go get a massage or something, okay? You need to relax.”

Kurt huffs out a laugh. “You sound just like Blaine.”

Jen gives him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. “Feel better, okay?”

“Thanks again,” Kurt says as she returns to work. Now all he has to do is figure out how he’s supposed to punch out.

Checking for the blue sticky note he’d folded up into one of the card slots of his wallet with Blaine that afternoon doesn’t occur to him until he’s located the employee break room in the back of the bakery and retrieved a familiar looking bag. He digs out the wallet immediately. It’s not the wallet he uses normally, but he remembers digging a MetroCard out of this same wallet a few nights ago before going out to meet Rachel for lunch. There had been no blue note in it then, he knows he would have noticed something as bright and out of place as that. This time, though, it’s the first thing he sees when he opens up the wallet. It looks a bit worse for wear and it’s just barely peeking out from behind his driver’s license, but it’s there, and Kurt doesn’t know whether to be relieved or scared.

“Kurt! Wake up!”

He’s suddenly back in his own bedroom, eyes trying to adjust to the dim light, and Rachel is kneeling on the bed beside him, grinning.  
  


“Sorry to wake you up, but it’s still early, and I couldn’t wait to tell you what Isaac said to me tonight.”

“Well, it’s going to be years before he proposes, so it can’t be that important,” Kurt mumbles, glancing at his phone on the nightstand. “Ugh, two a.m.? Really, Rachel?”

“You woke me up at two a.m. last week to tell me about a great scarf you got online! I can wake you up at two a.m. to tell you Isaac told me he loves me.”

Kurt gives her a soft smile. “That’s really great, Rachel.”

“I knoooow,” she says, collapsing down onto the bed beside him and snuggling in close to his side. “He’s flying out tomorrow to go visit his family, though. I won’t see him for a week.”

“Well, absence does make the heart grow fonder,” Kurt remarks, and they spend a few minutes quietly lying together before Rachel speaks again.

“Sorry about waking you up,” she says. “I was just excited. I know you’re tired.”

“It’s fine. I haven’t been sleeping well lately, anyway.”

“Ah, the last semester blues,” Rachel says wisely, like she hadn’t dropped out of school within a year of getting her first role. “The end is in sight, at least.”

“God, I hope so.”

-

“I can’t believe it didn’t work,” Blaine says when Kurt calls him later that morning to fill him in on what happened. Kurt hadn’t been able to fall asleep again after Rachel woke him, too wrapped up in thoughts about what seeing the blue paper in his vision actually meant, and he’d called Blaine at 8 a.m., which seemed like the earliest acceptable time.

Blaine sighs. “Did you do the whole ‘imagining a peaceful, quiet place’ thing before you fell asleep?”

“Yes, Blaine. Shockingly, bubble baths, meditating, andenvisioning a peaceful, quiet place before bed did nothing to stop me from time traveling.”

“Maybe you didn’t do it right. Maybe if-”

“Relaxing isn’t going to help,” Kurt insists. “You were right, seeing that stupid Post-It note in my wallet _did_ convince me. That’s the future, and it sucks, and I need to fix it. I’m going to be working in a _coffeeshop_ , Blaine. When I’m 27 years old! How have I not gotten my big break yet?”

“I thought what concerned you most is that you weren’t married to your ex.”

“They’re both equally disturbing. Ugh, and Rachel woke me up before I could even check if Taylor was still in the contacts on my phone. I got no information this time.”

“Except that you work in a coffeeshop, and we’re fighting.”

“We’re always fighting in the future,” Kurt points out. “Our relationship is a trainwreck. We need to nip that in the bud.”

“It might be harder than it sounds.”

Kurt frowns. “What do you mean?”

“Well, if the Post-It note still being in your wallet proves that that version of you remembers what’s happening in the present… well, you _know_ our relationship’s going to be a trainwreck and you still, at some point, decided to date me.”

Kurt’s jaw drops. He can’t think of a compelling argument. “Well… maybe _you_ decided to date _me_.”

“And I forced you to say yes? Sure, seems likely.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, let’s just say you don’t really let other people control you,” Blaine says. “ _Ever_. Everything has to be your way, always. There’s no way you can pin this one just on me.”

“That’s rich, coming from you, Mr. Permanent Lead Soloist,” snaps Kurt. “And I can assure you that me ending up with you in the future is 100% _not_ the way I want things to go. But clearly, it somehow happens anyway, and we need to put a stop to it. Both of us, Blaine, because this is your shitty future, too.”

“You’re the one convinced this is the actual future, though, not me.”

“Using the note to prove it was your idea,” Kurt reminds him. “It’s proven, accept it. I know you’re at least a little bit concerned, or you wouldn’t be listening to me at all.”

Blaine laughs in disbelief. “Uh, you never considered the fact that maybe I’m listening to you because you refuse to tell anyone else, and I’m concerned about the mental well-being of a friend?”

“We’re not friends, Blaine. We hardly know each other. Admit it, you’re worried about this.”

“Well, I’m worried about _something_ , that’s for sure.”

Kurt ignores the skepticism in his tone. “What are you doing today? I have class and then I have to come home and work on something for Vogue.com, but I should have a few hours, if you want to stop by so we can brainstorm.”

“You want me to come all the way to Brooklyn so we can brainstorm? Brainstorm _what_?”

“How to fix this!” Kurt exclaims. “Haven’t you been listening? We need to figure this out, come up with info gathering strategies, decide what I need to change and how to change it. But I’m already exhausted, it feels like I never get any sleep, and there is no way I’m going to be able to do this on my own. I feel like my brain’s about to short circuit. If you think I’m going to your apartment on any day there’s a chance I might run into Sebastian, you’re crazy. And anyway, you coming ‘all the way to Brooklyn’ wasn’t such a problem on Saturday. ”

“Well, Saturday I thought….” Blaine sighs. “Whatever. I have class ‘til three today. I can come over after that.”

“Good,” Kurt says, letting himself relax at Blaine’s acquiescence. “I’ll text you the address. It’s right near that Starbucks, though. If you have trouble finding it, you can text me, I can-”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine,” Blaine interrupts. “I’ll see you later, Kurt.” He sounds resigned, and Kurt feels a pang of guilt for being so rude. He and Blaine may not be friends, and Blaine might be the cause of all of his future problems, but _this_ Blaine has been pretty kind and understanding to Kurt’s strange plight.

“Okay, have a good day,” Kurt replies, attempting to sound polite. “And, Blaine… thank you. For agreeing. It really does mean a lot.”

He can almost hear Blaine’s grin when he replies. “I know. You have a good day too, okay? Try and relax a little. Find your happy place!”

Kurt laughs. “Not so easy when I’m at school. Bye, Blaine.”

“Bye.”

-

“I don’t see why you think keeping a notebook is such a bad idea,” Blaine says that afternoon. They’re holed up in Kurt’s bedroom in case Rachel comes home, and Blaine’s just offered Kurt a small, blank notebook to write down his observations in.

“Because it’s 2016, Blaine. I don’t need to keep something I can lose when I can easily just keep a file online!”

“Files can get lost online, too! And what would even happen if you opened a document online and saved changes _from the future_? But if you remember to keep the book in your bag all the time, you should always be able to find it. This way, you can write down observations whenever you need to, about what you change in the present and how that affects the future you see, and we can make a spreadsheet to help us figure out what helps and what hurts, and--” Blaine notices Kurt’s wide-eyed stare and cuts himself off. “What?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Kurt says. “It’s just… you’ve thought a lot about this.”

“Well, yeah. Haven’t you?”

“I have, yeah. I just… haven’t really come up with anything,” Kurt admits, touched that Blaine seems to have spent his whole day trying to come up with a plan to help him. “I guess this is as good a plan as any. I should probably just… try to change only one thing every day, right? So then I’ll know that it’s that one thing that changes stuff in the future?”

“That makes sense. Though it’ll still be hard to know for sure what changes the future anyway.”

Kurt frowns. “What do you mean?”

“Let’s say you change one significant thing in a day, like… I don’t know, quitting a job, or ending a relationship, right? There are still a ton of other changes you might be making that you don’t even realize. Like, maybe you order something different at a coffeeshop without thinking, or you read a news article that changes your perspective on something. Those smaller things could also be contributing, even if you think it’s just the bigger things.”

“So you’re saying it’s hopeless? That I’ll never know how to fix anything because every little thing I do every day has the potential to affect the rest of my life, and I’ll be stuck going to the future every night until future me dies, and then all I’ll see every night is the inside of my coffin?”

“Uh… is that a serious concern of yours?”

It’s just one of the many strange thoughts that’s been haunting Kurt for the past few days, but he doesn’t give Blaine an answer. “I just really need to figure out how to make the future right so I can stop doing this every night. I hope it’s not as difficult as you’re making it sound.”

Blaine chews at his bottom lip for a moment, thinking. “I didn’t mean to make it sound difficult. I have no idea how difficult it will be. How are you so sure this will stop if you manage to get the future the way you want it?”

Kurt’s jaw drops slightly. He doesn’t really have an answer for that, even though the thought of being able to fix his future has been the one hopeful thing he’s been holding onto for the past few days. “It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Kurt says after a moment, raising his chin in defiance. “And you agreed yesterday! You said if it’s really the future, I can still change it!”

“Yeah, _if_ it’s the future, sure,” Blaine says. “But even if you change it, that doesn’t mean you’re going to stop dreaming about it. Who knows? It’s not like I have actual evidence to support any of this, Kurt.”

And Kurt knows that, of course he knows that. Blaine doesn’t have any more answers than he does, but without Blaine’s help, Kurt has nothing to guide him. “Well, it sounds good to me. I’ll change things and see what starts moving me in the right direction, and then I’ll concentrate on that, and it hopefully will be fixed it no time.”

Blaine studies Kurt for a moment before nodding. “Do you want to start brainstorming a list of things to try changing?”

“Sure.”

“Can I ask you a question first?”

“I guess,” Kurt replies.

“What do I look like in the future?”

Kurt’s eyebrows knit together. “Um, I don’t know. Like you, but older?”

Blaine’s eyes widen in fear. “How much older?”

“About five years, Blaine.”

“Am I, like, wrinkly, with grey hair?”

Kurt tries to keep a straight face when he replies. “Yes, Blaine, at 26 you are totally grey and wrinkly. You walk with a cane, too. Everyone calls you Hobbles.”

Blaine laughs. “Hey, you can’t mock me for being concerned about my future appearance. Don’t act like you didn’t immediately check yourself for wrinkles.”

“I didn’t have to,” Kurt says. “I’m not concerned. You wouldn’t have to be, either, if you’d continued the skincare regimen I showed you back in high school.”

“How do you know I didn’t?” Blaine asks playfully, before the smile fades from his face. “Wait, can you tell?”

Kurt adopts a serious tone. “There’s still time to change your future, Blaine.”

Blaine barks out a surprised laugh. “Is the regimen still 20 steps?”

“Twenty- _one_ ,” corrects Kurt. “Each as important as the last.”

Blaine gives him a warm grin, and for the first time, Kurt is happy they’ve been reacquainted, even if it’s only for a little while.

“I’m willing to learn it again, you know,” Blaine tells him, “if you’re willing to teach me.”

-

It takes eight days of making changes for Kurt to get himself and Blaine apart in the future, and the day after he travels into a future where he’s living with an unfamiliar roommate in his current apartment instead of with Blaine, Kurt makes sure to deliver his triumphant news in person as soon as he’s out of class. He has to work that evening, so he can’t stay late, but he’ll have at least a little time to discuss his next move with Blaine.

“I did it!” Kurt announces proudly as soon as Blaine lets him into the entryway. “Last night, I was single, no one gave any indication that I had recently been through a bad break-up, and your number wasn’t in my phone. We were Facebook friends, though, and I said happy birthday to you last month. Other than that, no recent contact!”

Blaine looks bemused. “That’s… great?”

“It is,” Kurt agrees. After a week of getting nowhere, visiting a 2021 where he and Blaine were struggling to work through various relationship issues and seemed pretty miserable, arriving in a 2021 where he wasn’t fighting with a boyfriend he didn’t want had been a huge relief. “Is it okay if I come upstairs? Is anyone home?”

Visiting Blaine’s apartment is a risk, but it hasn’t been too hard avoiding Sebastian on Kurt’s near-daily visits this week. A few knowing grins and exaggerated winks from Rachel had been all it took to convince Kurt that his own apartment wouldn’t be the best place for him and Blaine to continue meeting up, and Blaine’s apartment is near NYADA, so it’s convenient. He still worries that eventually he’ll be caught off guard by one of the few people he can truthfully say he would be happy to _never_ see again.

“Sebastian is not here, no,” Blaine replies, and the two of them start walking up the stairs.”So… you said you’re single now, right? Or, in the future?”

“Yep. I couldn’t find evidence that we ever dated at all.”

“Okay, but if you’re single, you didn’t really get what you wanted. Was Taylor’s number even in your phone?”

Kurt frowns. “Way to be negative, Blaine. No, it wasn’t, but that’s fine. After a week of nothing, I’m fine with baby steps. Getting you out of the picture is _huge._ ”

Blaine laughs. “Gosh, Kurt, you sure know how to make a boy feel special.”

“I try. You know, I didn’t even change one of the things on the list we made yesterday. I went rogue.”

“Oh yeah? I thought you were going to talk to your manager about taking a leave of absence from the restaurant until you graduate. What did you end up changing?”

“There’s this guy at the deli I go to for lunch sometimes, and he’s always hitting on me,” Kurt explains as they reach Blaine’s floor and start heading toward the apartment. “Usually I just let him, it’s mostly harmless, but today, I told him I’m taken, so he needs to back off.”

Blaine unlocks his door and motions for Kurt to walk in ahead of him. “I don’t know if lying to the guy at the deli about your relationship status really counts as a big life change.”

“I’m sick of big life changes,” Kurt grumbles. He’s gone way out of his comfort zone this week in his attempts to modify his future. He’s started circulating a brand new resumé in hopes of finding work after graduation, he’s looking for auditions, he’s caught up on correspondence with old acquaintances that he had let lapse, he’s made plans for an extended visit with his dad and Carole in Ohio over the summer, and he’s finally agreed to let Rachel get a kitten. Shutting down the guy at the deli had been about all he could muster today.

“I just can’t believe _that’s_ what worked,” says Blaine.

“It makes sense,” Kurt insists. He’d spent most of his class time today thinking about this. “I told the guy I was taken, because I am, basically, by Taylor, and that helped me take a step in the right direction.”

“Well, it’s all that worked so either way, I guess it’s smart to brainstorm new stuff based on this. I’ve got an hour or so before I need to start working on that paper, if you want to--”

“Yes, definitely,” Kurt interrupts, already pulling his notebook out of his bag and seating himself on the sofa. He’s started to feel at home in Blaine’s apartment after a week and a half of dropping by almost daily between class and work. It doesn’t hurt that until last night, he’d spent most of his future visits in the same apartment. Unlike his time with Blaine in 2021, the time he spends with Blaine in the present is far from unpleasant. Blaine has the ability to make Kurt laugh even as they discuss the misery that seems to await them both, and being in the future isn’t so scary now that Kurt knows that he’ll be coming back to the present soon to share everything that happened with Blaine and formulate their next plan.

“Okay, so… no leave of absence, then? I know it’s not necessarily in line with telling the guy at the deli you’ve got a boyfriend, but I still think it would really help you,” Blaine says as he joins Kurt on the couch.

“Nah, that’s not important right now.”

“You having a little bit of time to breathe isn’t important right now? You said yourself you could go a few months without that paycheck. You have your dad’s help and the work you do for Vogue.com, and--”

“I’m considering it,” Kurt says, and he’s not lying. He knows it’s a good idea, to have a little bit of extra time for himself, especially now that he’s so exhausted from lack of sleep and spending all of his free time trying to fix his future. It’s hard to admit to it, though, that he can’t handle everything on his plate, and he’s not looking forward to having the conversation with his manager. “For now, though, I think I’m going to head in a different direction. Tomorrow, I’m going to tell this girl in my dance class what I really think of her. She’s awful, talks behind my back all the time, but as soon as she saw me rehearsing my midterm piece, she all of a sudden wants to work together. It is _so_ not happening.”

Blaine knits his eyebrows in confusion. “How is that like telling that guy you have a boyfriend?”

“It’s me being honest about how I feel!”

“You don’t have a boyfriend, though.”

“But I _will_ , and it’s certainly not going to the guy at the deli. And now he’ll leave me alone since I’m of no use to him. And if I bitch Julianne out, then she’ll leave me alone. It makes sense. I’m removing toxic people from my life. That has to be good for my future.”

Blaine laughs. “Or you just want an excuse to call out a classmate you don’t like.”

“It’s win-win,” Kurt says with a shrug.

“I guess. I just thought that when you said you wanted to go in a different direction, you meant more… focusing on your love life.”

“I am. This stuff is going to help my love life _and_ my professional life. I really think I’m on the right track.”

Blaine’s quiet for a moment. “I think you are, too,” he finally agrees. “But doesn’t this make you think a little bit? I mean… you were single in the future this time, and you said you were happy, so--”

“I _seemed_ happy,” Kurt interrupts. “It’s sort of hard to tell for sure, but I talked a bit with Rachel and Santana and some guy who called named…” Kurt looks down to check his notebook, “Kyle, and I didn’t see any evidence that I was miserable.”

“Right, and Taylor wasn’t even in the picture,” Blaine points out. “So maybe this whole thing really isn’t even about him, if you were fine without him.”

“I don’t want to be _fine,_ ” Kurt snaps. “I was okay, but I wasn’t _great._ If this is an opportunity for me to get a glimpse of my future and change what I don’t like, why would I settle? I want to be married to my first love and have a role in something and be _happy._ ”

“I’m sure you could be happy without those things,” Blaine says. “Things don’t need to turn out _exactly_ the way you want for you to be content with your life, right? I mean… maybe you’re going through all of this because you’re expecting too much.” He sighs. “I guess I’m just wondering why you want to get married to this particular guy so badly. Why you’d do all of this just because there’s a chance, in some possible future, that you might not end up with him.”

“Because I love him,” Kurt answers immediately. “Being with him is what I want. Haven’t you ever felt like that before?”

Blaine raises an eyebrow. “You’re asking me if I’ve been in love? Because I’m pretty sure you won’t like the answer.”

“Sebastian? _Really_?”

“What did you expect?” Blaine asks with a shrug. “We dated for over a year. It obviously wasn’t meaningless.”

Kurt wants to change the subject as soon as possible. It’s embarrassing, how quickly any reminder of Sebastian and Blaine’s relationship can twist his stomach into painful knots. Kurt already knew that Blaine had feelings for Sebastian, but hearing him say it out loud hurts. “He was the only one?”

“I’ve dated other people. I did the ‘I love you’ thing with a guy named Oliver last year, but I’m not sure how much either of us meant it. But I _have_ been in love before, and I still can’t imagine feeling that way - like the only way I could ever be happy in the future is if I was married to him.”

“It makes sense, since apparently you felt that way about _Sebastian_ ,” Kurt remarks. “With Taylor, it’s… I don’t know how to explain it. He’s the only person I’ve ever dated, but I just know we’re supposed to be together, you know? He was the first person to ever show me any real interest, and he’s never stopped, even when we’ve had our issues. No one’s ever going to love me the way that he does.”

Kurt waits for Blaine to argue further. It wouldn’t be hard - both Kurt and Taylor have made their mistakes, and they’ve got three break-ups in the last year and a half to prove it - but Blaine doesn’t push the issue.

“I guess that makes sense,” he says, but he doesn’t make eye contact. “Did you want to go over what you saw last night?”

Kurt doesn’t stay long after that. He already has his plan for tomorrow, and he has a shift at the restaurant tonight. Blaine has work to do as well, and though Kurt isn’t really concerned about overstaying his welcome, he _is_ concerned that every minute he stays is upping his chance of running into Sebastian. He’s been lucky so far.

That afternoon, his luck runs out.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kurt sees two men entering the building as he walks down the last few steps. He thinks nothing of it until he hears a familiar voice, and he looks up before he can place it, only to find himself face to face with a smirking Sebastian Smythe.

“Well, if it isn’t the elusive Kurt Hummel,” Sebastian drawls. “I was beginning to think you were avoiding me.”

Kurt tries to swallow his shock and frustration and come across as casual as possible. “That was the plan, yes.”

“Such a shame it got ruined. Kurt, this is Roger. Roger, Kurt.”

Kurt ignores the introduction. “Okay, now we’ve seen each other, and I have places to be, and I’m sure you and your boyfriend do as well, so--”

Sebastian barks out a laugh, and pulls the guy standing next to him closer. “Oh, Kurt, you’re still just as innocent as the day we met. No, it’s cute, really!” he says as Kurt’s face turns pink. “Never lose that. Tons of guys really dig the innocent thing, and as long as you can find a guy willing to fuck around with someone _so_ terribly unmasculine, you’ll--”

“Are we going upstairs or not?” asks the guy Sebastian’s holding tight against him. “I have class tonight.”

“Of course,” Sebastian tells him, without breaking eye contact with Kurt. “It was nice catching up with you, Kurt. I’m sure we’ll meet again, considering you’re here every day for that ‘secret project’ you and Blaine are working on.”

Kurt’s eyes widen. Somehow, he’d never even considered the possibility that Blaine would tell Sebastian what was going on. “You know about what Blaine and I are doing?”

Sebastian rolls his eyes. “My senile grandmother in Ohio probably knows what you two are doing. I, personally, think ‘secret project’ is a really strange euphemism for fucking, but whatever works for you two, I guess. Speaking of fucking, though - come on, Roger, let’s go.” He pulls the other man and leads him around Kurt on his way to the stairwell, and Kurt is left alone in the entryway to even out his breathing and regain his composure. It was uncomfortable and rage-inducing, but it’s over now, and it could have been much worse.

-

A few days later, Kurt brings up the encounter with Blaine. They’re in Blaine’s kitchen making a batch of chocolate chip cookies for the birthday of one of Blaine’s classmates, and the lull in the conversation after Kurt finishes going over the details of the previous night’s journey gives Kurt the perfect opportunity to broach the subject.

“So… you didn’t tell Sebastian what we’re doing. He would have brought it up when he saw me if you had.”

Blaine looks confused. “I’m sorry, should I have told him? I assumed since you weren’t really telling any of your friends, _my_ friends were off-limits, too.”

“They definitely, definitely are,” Kurt assures him. “I’m just surprised that you didn’t tell him why I’ve been coming around. He thinks we’re sleeping together.”

Blaine rolls his eyes. “He thinks everyone’s sleeping together. Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m not _worried_ about it,” Kurt replies. “I’m just happy you didn’t tell him about the time travel stuff. I hadn’t even thought to tell you not to.” He pauses. “It, um, it means a lot to me that you didn’t, so thank you.”

“It’s really no big deal,” Blaine says with a grin.

“So… that guy he was with… you don’t know him?”

Blaine shrugs. “I met him when he came inside, wouldn’t say I know him.”

Kurt scrunches up his face in disgust. “Does he do that a lot? Just… bring guys here, even when you’re around?”

“Yes?” Blaine says, confused. “It’s his apartment, too, we don’t stop each other from having guests.”

Put that way, Kurt knows it makes sense. He and Rachel allow each other guests without permission, too, and they’ve both had to endure some awkward noises from the other bedroom, but neither of them have ever brought a parade of one night stands through the door. Even if they had, it wouldn’t be as rude as Sebastian flaunting the guys he’s bringing him home in front of his ex-boyfriend, who is clearly not quite over him yet.

“It’s a lot to put up with,” Kurt says. “You must _really_ like living with him.”

Blaine sighs. “Kurt, stop picking fights. It’s a nice afternoon, we’re making delicious cookies from your wonderful recipe, _and_ you were dating Taylor in 2021 last night.” The oven timer dings, and Blaine adds, “And the first batch is done!”

“I’m not picking a fight,” Kurt insists as he grabs an oven mitt and leans down to retrieve the cookies.

“Mentioning Sebastian is picking a fight. We’ve never been able to discuss him rationally.”

“I wasn’t being irrational!” Blaine raises an eyebrow at him, and Kurt lets out a frustrated sigh. “If anything, _you_ picked this fight with your inaccurate assumption that _I_ was picking a fight.”

He waits for Blaine’s argument, but Blaine just laughs. “Well, this is officially the stupidest argument we’ve ever had. Those cookies look delicious, by the way.”

Kurt smiles, more relieved than he’ll admit that his attempts to argue have been shut down. He’s not sure why he can’t stop himself from bringing Sebastian up in conversation. “They always do. How many are we allowed to sample?”

“Well, Lindsey is just one girl, surely she doesn’t need three dozen cookies,” Blaine says.  
“I’m sure we can keep this first batch to ourselves. For taste testing purposes, of course.”

“Of course,” echoes Kurt. “Can you grab me a spatula?”

Blaine reaches into a drawer and hands him one, then watches as Kurt moves the cookies from the cookie sheet onto the wire rack to cool. “Have you thought about what you’re going to change today? Or are you going to stop, since last night was so good?”

Kurt looks over at Blaine, confused. “Good? Blaine, I worked at the TGI Friday’s in Times Square.”

“Tons of performers have jobs in between roles,” Blaine argues. “And, hey, you probably get good tips.”

Kurt shakes his head. “Unacceptable.”

“But you were dating Taylor. This is the first time you’ve been able to get to that point! It’s a pretty big deal. I don’t understand why you’re not more excited.”

Kurt doesn’t understand either, really. Earlier that week before, he’d felt like throwing a party just because he’d managed to get his future self single, and when he’d first arrived in the future after going to sleep the night before, he’d been ecstatic to find that he was on a date with Taylor. The excitement had waned as the vision progressed. The two of them had shared an awkward conversation about a potential move to Florida, and when Kurt had checked his phone to look through his contacts, Blaine had been missing. Nothing felt right, not the date, the job, or the talk of moving.

“I can’t move to Florida,” Kurt says by way of explanation. “I wouldn’t survive those summers. I can’t even figure out why we would be considering it, and I couldn’t find a way to ask that didn’t make me seem crazy.”

“Maybe you got a job at Disney World,” Blaine suggests. “Or Universal! You could be the guy that sells the wands at Harry Potter World!”

“Ollivander,” Kurt supplies. “I think I’m a little young for that. And working at a theme park in Florida sounds like a nightmare.”

“All your friends would love you ‘cause you could get them in for free, though,” Blaine points out.

 _Not you_ , Kurt thinks. _In this future, we don’t talk at all._ “It’s not what I want,” Kurt says. “I haven’t figured out what I want to change today yet.”

“You could drop by the restaurant on your way home and talk to your boss about taking a leave of absence. You’re so against working in food service in the future, after all,” Blaine teases.

“You are obsessed with me taking a leave of absence.”

“I’m obsessed with you having fewer things to stress over, yes.”

“You’re obsessed with me having more time to help you make cookies for your friends,” Kurt jokes.

“That, too,” Blaine says with a grin.

-

That night, Kurt stops by the restaurant and hands in his letter of resignation stating that he’ll finish out the week, but Saturday will be his last shift. It’s more permanent than a leave of absence, a bigger change, and Kurt knows if he’s going to do it, he might as well do it right. Without this change, he seems doomed to work in the food service industry for the next five years, and the thought is a nightmare.

His trips to the future reflect the change immediately. He’s still not seeing the success he hoped for, but it seems that his anti-food service decision has stuck. In the weeks that follow his decision to quit, he finds his future self working a data entry job some nights and at Bloomingdale’s some others. He takes a break from changing things every single day, because things really do seem like they’re heading in a better direction than before, and he’d rather not make a mistake and mess it up. He’s not done working toward his perfect future life - not yet, but he wants to take time and figure out what he needs to do before screwing things up. His jobs aren’t great, but Taylor is a consistent figure now. They’re not married and Kurt doesn’t get the feeling that they’re overwhelmingly happy, but it’s not an uncomfortable life. Blaine is never there, in person or in his phone contacts, but that makes sense. He and Blaine may be growing closer in the present, but that’s only because they’re working to figure this stuff out. There’s no reason to think that they’ll remain friendly when this is all over. He still checks every night, though, scrolls through the contacts list on his future phone. It’s as much a part of the routine as checking the date and making sure his dad and Carole are still alive and well in Ohio.

Even though Kurt hasn’t been changing anything, he still takes notes on what’s going on in 2021 and shares them with Blaine nearly daily. About two weeks after Kurt stops actively trying to change things, Blaine invites him over to watch a movie and suggests that he even stay overnight.

“I’m kind of wondering what it looks like when you sleep,” he tells Kurt.

“Uh… probably the same as everyone else?”

“But you’re… going places, or at least you think you are, and I wonder what would happen if I woke you up every 15 minutes or so.”

“Then I’d only be there for 15 minutes at a time,” Kurt says with a shrug. “Rachel woke me up in the middle once, so it’s not that I think my body is physically traveling anywhere. I think all that would result in is you getting less sleep than you normally do.”

Blaine rolls his eyes. “I sleep plenty.”

Kurt doesn’t argue, but he knows it’s not true. Blaine doesn’t have much more free time than Kurt, and he’s been devoting a lot of that time to helping Kurt out. The dark circles under his eyes are growing more noticeable by the day, and it makes Kurt feel a little guilty for dumping all of these problems on Blaine, who spends way too much time trying to think up a solution.

“You just want to watch me sleep,” Kurt accuses playfully, and Blaine laughs.

“You caught me! Seriously, though, I have a great movie for us to watch.”

As it turns out, Blaine’s great movie suggestion is Back to the Future.

“It could help!” he insists as they settle down on the couch with the pizza that Kurt brought. “I know you’re not using a Delorean, but maybe we’ll get some ideas. I’ve got Back to the Future II as well, in case that one’s more helpful. I can’t find the third one, I think my roommate freshman year might have stolen it, but I think that one was mostly just about the past, anyway.”

Kurt laughs, deciding not to complain about the movie choice. It’s the Friday night before his spring break, he’s almost caught up on school work, and his next blog entry for Vogue.com just needs to be proofread. He can think of no place he’d rather be to unwind than here having a movie marathon with Blaine, complete with pizza and wine.

“You know,” Kurt says once they’ve finished the pizza, “When the future stuff first started happening, I considered telling Sam. I thought his solution might be to make me watch this movie.”

“Sam from high school?” Blaine asks.

“Yeah, he and Mercedes are engaged,” Kurt tells him. “They live about ten minutes away from me. I never mentioned that?”

“Nah, I didn’t know you guys were still friends.”

“We are. Though I guess I haven’t been much of a friend to anyone lately, with all this stuff going on.” He barely even sees Rachel anymore, though she’s so wrapped up in her relationship with Isaac that she doesn’t mind. She’s also convinced that Kurt has started dating Blaine, and Kurt hasn’t done much to dissuade the notion. It’s not at all true, but it stops her from worrying about Kurt’s constant absence.

“I’m sure they understand,” Blaine says, squeezing his knee. Sometime after they finished the pizza, they had moved closer together on the couch so they could share a blanket. It’s chilly for late March, but Kurt’s leg is on fire underneath the blanket where it’s pressed up against Blaine’s. Kurt’s starting to get used to Blaine’s physicality again, how easily the touches come, but it’s been a process.

“I hope so. I’m sure I’ll be a much better friend after I graduate and get this pesky time travel thing taken care of. I’m starting to think maybe I should have just gone to Sam first, though,” he says, bumping his knee against Blaine’s. “He would have gotten to the Back to the Future place much sooner.”

“Maybe, but he probably wouldn’t have cuddled with you while watching it,” Blaine says, leaning in a little closer. Kurt can feel his cheeks turning red. It’s not flirting, it’s just _Blaine_ , and he was like this with Kurt back in high school, too. It’s nothing to get worked up about.

“Actually, he might have,” he says, trying to keep his tone casual. “Sam’s a pretty touchy-feely guy.”

Despite Blaine’s earlier insistence that he gets enough sleep, he’s passed out against Kurt’s shoulder before the first movie even ends. Kurt feels a rush of affection for him as he sleeps, and vows to be better about taking advantage of Blaine’s time. Blaine’s done a lot to help him in the past month, and even though it’s been frustrating at times, he’s not sure what sort of panic he would have worked himself up to by this point without Blaine there to listen to him and help.

The realization has been building slowly over the past few weeks, but it becomes clear that night on Blaine’s couch - Kurt doesn’t want a future without Blaine in it. He doesn’t want this to end. Blaine’s friendship is just as important to him as being married to Taylor and being on Broadway, and he needs to fight for that just as hard.

Kurt’s thoughts are interrupted by the front door banging open and Sebastian strolling inside with another man in tow. Kurt’s not terribly surprised that it’s not Roger.

“Oh, hey guys,” Sebastian greets them as Blaine stirs awake next to Kurt. “This is Jon. Jon, the handsome one on the right is Blaine, and the delicate elven princess on the left is Kurt.”

“Well, that’s my cue to leave,” Kurt says, throwing the blanket aside as he stands up. Sebastian’s managed to wipe out his good mood in an instant, and Kurt can’t imagine staying here while Sebastian has sex just a few feet away.

“What?” Blaine asks, blinking his eyes sleepily up at Kurt. “You were going to stay over.”

“I’d recommend headphones,” Sebastian calls. “It might get a little loud.”

“Ugh, fuck _off_ , Sebastian,” grunts Blaine. “You said you’d be out late, anyway. What are you doing here?”

Sebastian shrugs. “Change of plans. We’ll get out of your hair, though, as much fun as your sleepover seems.”

They disappear down the hallway into Sebastian’s bedroom, and Blaine tugs gently at Kurt’s wrist to get him to sit back down. “You don’t have to go, Kurt. He only acts like that to rile you up, you know.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“I guess not. But I still think you should stay. He won’t be back out here, and if you don’t stay, he’ll be the one eating the french toast I make tomorrow morning, and he doesn’t really deserve it after that display.”

Kurt can’t stop the grin forming on his face. Hearing Blaine say something negative about Sebastian is a novelty, after all. “That offer’s hard to refuse.”

Kurt does end up staying the night, and he only feels a little bit guilty when he agrees to Blaine’s suggestion that he take the bed while Blaine sleeps out on the couch. It makes more sense to have Kurt in the bedroom and away from any potential late night wanderings into the living room Sebastian might make, and Blaine’s bed isn’t quite large enough to share with someone he’s not sleeping with. About half an hour after Kurt’s gone to bed, Blaine knocks on the door lightly. Kurt tells him to come in, and when Blaine opens the door, he looks disappointed.

“I thought you might be asleep,” he says.

“So you could stare at me and then wake me up?” Kurt asks, amused. “Sorry to disappoint you. It usually takes me a while.”

After they say their goodnights again, it takes another hour for Kurt to fall asleep. When he does, he ends up in the future he’s grown accustomed to lately. He lives in a small apartment unfamiliar to his present self with Taylor, and today he finds himself eating a breakfast of eggs and toast at the kitchen table while Taylor walks around, phone in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other. Kurt’s not sure what Taylor does for a living, and he hasn’t cared enough to try and figure it out. It could be different every night anyway, for all Kurt knows. If he had to guess from the conversation Taylor’s currently having about moving lessons around to suit clients’ needs, Kurt would guess he works at a dance studio.

“Well, we can switch her to Wednesdays, but it won’t be with Meghan,” he says into the phone. “If she wants to stick with Meghan, we’ll have to see if Thursdays are okay.”

After a few more minutes of talk about scheduling, Taylor dumps the remainder of his coffee into the sink and places the mug on the counter before giving Kurt a quick peck on the lips, mouthing ‘bye,’ and heading out the front door, phone still pressed against his ear. Kurt has tried not to worry too much about why the two of them aren’t married yet, but after so many dreams where they’re together, it’s hard not to wonder. It’s 2021, after all - It’s been legal for them to wed in New York for a decade now, and they live together and love each other and have known each other for almost nine years, isn’t it time?

Maybe it has something to do with his fashion sense, Kurt muses, thinking of the unfortunate ill-fitting blazer and jeans Taylor had just left the apartment in. The fact that he hadn’t rinsed out his mug was another point against him.

Now that he’s alone, Kurt starts his normal future routine. Checking the date and time, scrolling through his phone contacts, making sure his dad and Carole are okay, reading the news, and, since he’s not already at work, trying to figure out what his job is and when he’s expected to be there. It’s late March of 2021, as expected, and like all of his recent visits, Blaine isn’t on his contacts list. It’s more disappointing than usual after tonight’s revelation, and Kurt decides to dig a little deeper and check if they’re at least Facebook friends. They’re not, but the app on his phone does inform him that they have mutual friends - Sam Evans and Mercedes Jones, which makes him smile. _He_ did that, he must have - he set it in motion with his comments earlier. It was an unintentional change, but a positive one. Kurt hasn’t met any of Blaine’s other friends, and if nothing else, Mercedes and Sam are a huge improvement over Sebastian. He hopes they’re close. He hopes _he’s_ still close with Sam and Mercedes, too. It’s something he hasn’t thought to check.

Before Kurt can investigate further, he’s shaken back into the present by Blaine, who’s kneeling beside the bed.

“You were asleep this time,” he says proudly as Kurt blinks himself awake.

“For about ten minutes,” Kurt grumbles. “This is _so_ not necessary, Blaine.”

“You didn’t look weird at all, in case you were wondering.”

“I wasn’t. I was just about to try and figure out if I’m still close with Sam and Mercedes.”

Blaine frowns. “Why wouldn’t you be?”

“I don’t know. I just realized I haven’t ever been hanging out with them or anything in the future. They’re in my phone contacts when I look, but that doesn’t mean much.”

“Well, you can just check when you go back to sleep.”

Kurt raises an eyebrow. “Are you actually going to _let_ me sleep this time, or will you be waking me up again?”

Blaine ignores his question. “Does it feel different when you get woken up by someone, or is it the same as when you wake up on your own?”

“I hardly ever wake up on my own,” Kurt tells him. “It’s usually an alarm. But it’s the same either way. One second I’m there, and then suddenly I’m here. Or… not _here_ , in your bed, usually, but at home. The only thing that’s different when someone wakes me up is that I’m not there as long. Your experiment was sort of pointless. I’m not sure what you were hoping to gain from it.”

“Information about how on earth you’re _traveling in time_ while you sleep,” snaps Blaine. “Sorry if I’m not using the appropriate methods. It’s sort of uncharted territory for me.”

Kurt sighs. “You’re right, sorry. I don’t think this is going to help, though. You should go get some sleep, you look exhausted.”

Unlike the time that Rachel woke him up a few weeks prior, Kurt does manage to fall back asleep again. He assumed he’d be visiting the same future he’d just been to, but it only takes him a few minutes to figure out this is a different future - one where he’s still dating Taylor, but they don’t live together. Kurt lives in an apartment he’s never seen before with Santana and a woman with fiery red hair named Laurie. He finds out that he works as a receptionist at a doctor’s office, which is new.

Though his earlier trip had brought him to the morning, this one starts in the evening and lasts late into the night, where he and his roommates meet up with Sam, Mercedes, Rachel, and Isaac at a karaoke bar to celebrate a promotion Santana got. No one else seems to think it’s strange that Taylor’s not there, so it’s hard for Kurt to find an answer on why he hasn’t joined them. Texts to Taylor on Kurt’s phone imply they have plans to meet up the next day, so it doesn’t seem like they’re fighting. Kurt doesn’t let himself dwell on it too much - he’s happy to see Sam and Mercedes making their first appearance in his future, even if progress with Taylor has taken a step backward and Blaine still isn’t on his phone contacts list.

Sometime during the drunken subway ride back to the apartment he shares with Santana and Laurie, Kurt wakes up in Blaine’s bed to bright sunlight sneaking in through the curtains. When he checks his phone, he’s shocked to learn that it’s after 10 a.m. It’s the first time in months he’s gotten a full night’s sleep, but he feels guilty for occupying Blaine’s bedroom for so long, so he doesn’t linger. Even more surprising than his own late wake-up is the fact that when he gets out into the living room, Blaine is still fast asleep on the couch.

“Trouble in paradise?”

Kurt jumps, startled at the voice from the kitchen. Somehow, in his shock over how long he’d slept, Kurt had forgotten that Sebastian lives here, too.

“We’re not dating, Sebastian,” Kurt says, turning around to face him. Sebastian’s half-naked, with only a pair of pajama pants hanging low on his hips. “He was just kind enough to let me have the bed so I wouldn’t have to deal with you.”

Sebastian grins. “Well, that certainly worked out well for you. Coffee?”

“You should probably save it for your guest,” Kurt answers coldly.

“Oh, Jon? He left hours ago,” Sebastian replies, and his casual tone makes something snap inside of Kurt.

“You know, it’s _really_ awful how you treat Blaine. Parading all of these guys in front of him, not caring about how he feels.”

Sebastian rolls his eyes, unconcerned. “Spare me the lecture, Liza. Blaine and I have our relationship figured out. I’m not interested in your opinion.”

“You’re not interested in anything that doesn’t benefit you.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Sebastian says, smirking.

“God, you’re impossible. Blaine _likes_ you, and you’re taking advantage of that, and--”

“If you think Blaine is interested in me, you’re even more of an idiot than I thought,” Sebastian interrupts. “And that’s impressive, because my opinion of you was already pretty low.”

Kurt frowns. “He is. You’re just too--”

“Do you have any idea why I hated you so much in high school?”

“Oh, tons of reasons,” Kurt says, counting them off on his fingers. “My voice, my wardrobe, my hair…”

“Blaine was obsessed with you. My hatred for you was completely justified.”

Kurt’s jaw drops. “Blaine was obsessed with _me_? What weird world are you living in where that’s even a little bit true? I became a second class citizen to him the minute he started dating you!”

“Yeah, he couldn’t spend every waking moment with you and be at your beck and call anymore, I’m sure that was really hard for you.”

“You’re delusional! He hardly made any time for me anymore!”

“Dear god, you’re a drama queen. He didn’t even go to the same school as you and he still saw you three times a week and wanted to invite you along to anything the two of us did that was even _remotely_ PG. So he didn’t have time to do your three hour skin regimen with you every night, big fucking tragedy.”

“I lost my best friend because of you,” Kurt snaps. “Don’t act like that’s not a big deal!” It came out louder than he intended, and Kurt immediately turns around to check whether Blaine’s still sleeping. Thankfully, he hasn’t stirred.

“Don’t worry, he’s a deep sleeper,” Sebastian drawls. “Always, but _man_ , you should see him after a really good fuck. He sleeps like the dead. I guess you wouldn’t know that, though, huh?”

Kurt’s face flushes with anger, but before he can reply, Sebastian continues. “Anyway, I’d love to take credit for making you lose your best friend, princess, but you did that all on your own with your insane levels of jealousy. I didn’t even have to make an effort. I would have, though, if I had to. He was obsessed with you then, and he’s still obsessed with you now.”

“He’s not,” Kurt insists. The idea of Blaine being obsessed with Kurt is ridiculous. It’s not true, but part of him wishes that it were, and that makes him uneasy. “We’re friends, and he’s helping me with something. And you can turn a blind eye to it all you want, but it’s obvious he’s still into you. He has to be, to still put up with you - to live with you, and tolerate all your bullshit.”

Sebastian raises an eyebrow. “Don’t you live with Rachel Berry?”

Kurt lets out a frustrated sigh. “Rachel’s my friend. You’re being obtuse.”

“So are you. Blaine is not interested in me. He is not ever _going_ to be interested in me.”

“And why’s that?” Kurt asks. He can’t help but be curious. His avoidance of talking about Sebastian with Blaine means that he has no idea why they ended things a few years ago.

“He wanted me to be the Neil Patrick Harris to his David Burtka,” Sebastian says with a shrug. “Romance and babies included. That’s not me.”

Kurt frowns. He hates talking to Sebastian, but there’s a lot more he wants to ask. Was it mutual? If Blaine’s not hung up on Sebastian, is it the other way around? Does Sebastian think that Kurt is actually a candidate to be Blaine’s Neil Patrick Harris? All he actually asks is, “How come you get to be Neil Patrick Harris in that scenario?”

“I can’t believe you even have to ask that,” Sebastian says, rolling his eyes. “It was lovely chatting with you, but I’ve really got to get started with my day. Places to go, people to meet, all that. I wouldn’t let Blaine sleep much longer. That sofa’s murder on the back. He’ll probably be walking hunched over all day as it is.”

The alarm must show on Kurt’s face, because Sebastian laughs as he starts walking toward his bedroom. It makes Kurt a little unsure of whether or not he was joking, but he decides it can’t hurt to wake Blaine up in case it’s true. Also, Blaine had promised french toast last night, and Kurt’s stomach is starting to rumble.

He gives himself another minute to calm down after the informative but infuriating encounter with Sebastian before approaching the couch and giving Blaine a light shake.

“Blaine?” he asks after getting no response, then shakes him a little harder.

Blaine’s eyes finally crack open, and he shifts around on the couch, yawning. “What time is it?” he asks after a moment.

“It’ll be 11 soon,” Kurt replies. “I would’ve let you sleep a bit longer, but Sebastian said this couch hurts your back. I have no idea if that’s actually true, but…”

Blaine huffs out a laugh. “It’s not… untrue.”

Kurt winces, feeling guilty for allowing Blaine to stay out here while Kurt slept in the bed. “I’m sorry, you should have told me.”

“It’s really not a big deal,” Blaine assures him as he pulls himself into a sitting position, then stretches his arms above his head. “Did you sleep okay?”

“Yeah, for way longer than usual, too.” Kurt debates mentioning the argument with Sebastian, but decides that it might lead to a less than pleasant breakfast.

Blaine smiles. “Good. I’m glad.”

“Me too,” Kurt says, returning the smile. “So… I believe you mentioned something about french toast?”

-

The two separate future visits Kurt took the night he stayed with Blaine weigh on his mind for the next few days. It doesn’t make any sense that he visited two different futures after only fifteen minutes of being awake in between them. What had he possibly changed in such a short time? He hadn’t even gotten out of bed, and it makes him question his understanding of the whole situation. Has he been changing things at all? Is everything just _so_ fragile that breathing wrong can change his whole future? It’s terrifying, plunging back into uncertainty. Things hadn’t been right before, but at least he thought he understood what was happening.

One thing he’s not uncertain about is how much he owes Blaine for amount of kindness and patience he’s shown in the past month, and on a rare morning he finds himself eating breakfast with Rachel, he asks for some advice.

“Do you know where Isaac gets those flowers he gets for you all the time? They’re gorgeous arrangements.”

“Of course I know!” Rachel says. “I told him where to go. The first time he got me flowers, it was such a sad little bouquet. I had to give him a recommendation.”

Kurt shakes his head fondly. “Okay, mind sharing that recommendation with me?” Taylor has never been interested in sending or receiving flowers, so Kurt doesn’t have a lot of experience in that area.

Rachel grins and leans forward over the table, a mischievous glint in her eye. “Sure, as soon as you tell me who you’re buying flowers for.”

“Maybe they’re for you and I don’t want to ruin the surprise.”

“Oh, please,” Rachel says, rolling her eyes. “They’re for Blaine, right? Go to Stella’s, I have their card.”

“I’m getting him yellow roses. It’s a friendship thing, so don’t get any ideas. I just know he likes getting flowers, and he’s been a good friend.”

“I’d be sad that I was losing best friend status if I weren’t 100% convinced that you guys will be married someday.”

Kurt has to bite his tongue to stop from telling her about how her future self sings a radically different tune. “He’s not my future husband, but he’s also not replacing you as my best friend, so you don’t have to worry.”

“Instead of yellow roses, you should--”

“I’m getting yellow roses,” Kurt interrupts. He’s thought long and hard about what to do for Blaine, and he’s crafted a gift in his mind that he’s sure Blaine will appreciate. Before he can start to tell Rachel about his plans for Blaine’s gift, his phone vibrates on the table.

“I bet that’s Blaine,” says Rachel, craning her neck across the table to look.

It’s who Kurt expects as well, but when he looks at the display, he’s surprised to see a different name staring back at him. “Taylor,” he murmurs. “Huh.”

“I thought you told him you’d talk when you’re ready?”

“I guess he’s getting impatient,” Kurt says, reading over the text. It’s a simple plea.

_Taylor Tierney: Please can we meet up somewhere? I miss you._

It’s been four months since Kurt told Taylor he needed some space to figure some stuff out, and even if it had been all Taylor’s fault in the first place, Kurt knows he’s taken longer than he should. Even now, he doesn’t feel ready to work through the mess of issues they have. Without all of the other stuff going on in his life, he might have accepted Taylor’s request for a meeting, but right now, it all just seems so overwhelming. He sees Taylor in the future all the time, and he’s working to make sure that future with Taylor is secure. Dealing with Taylor in the present isn’t Kurt’s priority right now. It can’t be.

Kurt ignores the message.

-

Kurt chooses a day when Blaine’s not expecting him to drop off the gifts, and the planning required is worth it for the wide-eyed excitement when Blaine opens the door to the building and sees the bouquet of yellow roses and the accompanying gift basket Kurt’s put together.

“Kurt, they’re beautiful,” he says. “Are they seriously for me?”

Kurt huffs out a laugh. “Of course they’re for you, silly! Did you think I got them for Sebastian?”

“No, no, I just… wasn’t expecting this,” Blaine says, taking the bouquet and sniffing at the flowers.

“Well… yellow roses mean friendship,” Kurt tells him, just so it’s clear. “And we’re friends, or at least I hope we are, because you’ve been really amazing this past month…”

“Of course we’re friends,” Blaine says, like the idea that they might not be is totally ridiculous. “Come on, let’s go upstairs.”

Kurt doesn’t hesitate to follow him. Sebastian’s been scarce since the morning he and Kurt talked, so he’s not too worried about running into him. Once they get to Blaine’s apartment, Kurt hands over the gift basket, and Blaine’s grin as he takes in the cookies, the homemade bowties, and a copy of Back to the Future III is enough to make Kurt forget about Taylor’s now-daily texts and the bland future he’s still too afraid to mess with.

“I should get going,” Kurt says as Blaine puts the roses into a vase. “I’ve got work to do tonight, I just wanted to stop by and drop this off.”

“Well, it’s always nice to see you on a day I wasn’t expecting to. Especially when you come bearing gifts,” Blaine says with a warm grin. He closes the distance between them and wraps his arms around Kurt in a tight hug, which Kurt returns. Everything else might be a mess right now, but it’s a comfort to know he’s managed to do something right, at least.

-

That night, Taylor’s not in Kurt’s future.

It’s not just that Kurt doesn’t see him during the five hour trip. Taylor does not exist in Kurt’s life at all. Kurt’s living with Santana and Laurie still, but Taylor’s name isn’t in his phone. He’s not on his Facebook friends list, either, and when Kurt tries to bring Taylor up to Laurie, she has no idea who he’s talking about. He manages to slip in a subtle reference about Taylor to Sam, who he’s in the middle of a text conversation with about a movie his present self has never heard of, and Sam’s reaction makes it clear that Taylor has been out of the picture for years.

It wouldn’t sting quite so much if Kurt could find any evidence that Blaine was a part of his life. It’s the same as it’s been for weeks, though - no Blaine at all. Kurt had assumed that it was an either/or situation with Blaine and Taylor. At the beginning of his future visits, he’d had Blaine but no Taylor, and then soon after he’d gotten rid of Blaine, Taylor had reappeared. Kurt’s attempts at brainstorming ways to get Taylor as his husband and Blaine as a close friend haven’t led anywhere, and they’re both gone before Kurt has even had a chance to try and change things to make the future right.

When he wakes up the next morning, he tries to remain calm. It’s just one night, after all, and there’s no telling what will be different the next time he visits. Since it’s not a day he has plans with Blaine, it’s easy to hide the truth. Blaine’s daily “So what happened in the future last night?” text is answered with the same reply he’s been giving for the past few weeks - “No progress.” It’s not exactly a lie - there _was_ no progress - and he’ll tell Blaine eventually, if it’s still a problem. Right now, Kurt just can’t bring himself to make it real by telling someone else about it.

The future stays that way for three more days. No Taylor, no Blaine, and a customer service job at Bloomingdale’s that seems like a nightmare. The present isn’t great, either. Kurt’s fallen behind on schoolwork again, and the added stress of his future situation makes it hard to catch up. Anytime he sits down to try and get something done for school or work, his mind wanders to ways to solve his predicament. Taylor hasn’t quit sending texts, either - once a day, always the same question. Kurt still isn’t sure how to answer.

He’s not sure of anything right now. Somehow, he’d changed a major part of his future without actively trying. He’d been so careful lately, trying to wait to make any changes until he had everything more figured out, but he still lost control of everything. It’s terrifying.

Four days after Taylor disappeared from his future, when Kurt finally drifts to sleep after hours of lying in bed plagued by worries, he arrives in a future a bit different than he’s gotten used to.

He’s seated at the kitchen table in the apartment he’s been living in with Santana and Laurie. They’re all there, along with Rachel, and a quick glance at the oven clock tells him it’s 11:30 at night.

“How nervous are you?” Rachel asks, sounding excited. “Before my first opening night, I was _so_ nervous.”

Santana rolls her eyes. “We’ve all heard the story, Berry.”

“Opening night?” Kurt asks before he can stop himself. Did he get a role in something? In _anything_?

“Opening night,” Rachel echoes with a dreamy sigh. “You should get to bed soon, Kurt. You can’t make your Broadway debut on less than eight hours of sleep!”

Kurt’s jaw drops, and he can’t help but wonder if he heard Rachel correctly. _Broadway?_ Is it possible? Just last night he’d been working at Bloomingdale’s.

Laurie interrupts his thoughts. “Look, Rachel, you scared him!”

“He’s not scared,” Santana says, waving a hand dismissively. “It’s been in previews for weeks. He knows this role like the back of his hand. This won’t be different!”

“Santana, opening night is _completely_ different!” Rachel insists.

“I think he’ll be fine,” says Laurie. “It was really good on Tuesday when we saw it!”

“I didn’t say he wouldn’t be _fine_ , I just said it’s different. Your first opening night is something you’ll always remember, Kurt. I know that at mine, I--”

Santana rolls her eyes. “Yes, Rachel, please tell us _again_ all about your magical first opening night. We haven’t heard it since this afternoon, I think I’ve forgotten what you had for dinner that night.”

Rachel’s eyes widen. “Oh, I was _way_ too nervous to eat dinner!”

Kurt manages to tune them out. He has a role in a Broadway show. He got cast in something, and its official opening is tomorrow. Thankfully, he had not been thrown right onto the stage with no clue what his lines were. That could have been a disaster. If he even has lines. Maybe he’s just part of an ensemble, and it’s a small part. He shouldn’t dare to hope that it could possibly be any more than that.

After a few more minutes of the girls bickering, Rachel gives him a hug, a kiss, and wishes him luck one last time before leaving the apartment, and he bids Santana and Laurie goodnight, anxious to escape to his bedroom and do some more research on this role.

It only takes a few minutes of searching the Internet to find the information he’s looking for. It’s not an elaborate inside joke with his friends - Kurt really does have a role in a new show that has its official opening the next day. It’s not the lead, but it’s a pretty big part, and when he finds out he has a duet and a solo, he’s so happy he collapses onto his bed and squeals.

“I did it,” he murmurs to himself. “It’s really happening.”

After everything - the years it took him to find himself in high school, the trouble he had getting recognition in college, and the weeks of living through his horrible future jobs - he’s _made_ it. He hadn’t wanted to admit it to himself, but he’d started to lose hope with all the visions of the future he’s had since February. It seemed liked his Broadway dreams were never going to come true, like there was no chance that they could ever, but it’s _happening._ This is it, Kurt’s sure of it - this is the future he’s been searching for, and he can’t wait to tell Blaine all about it.

That’s when Kurt remembers that he hasn’t checked his phone to see if Blaine and Taylor are in his contacts list yet. Blaine hasn’t been there for weeks and Taylor’s been gone for days now, but Kurt’s optimistic. He’s on Broadway now - this is the right future for him, what he’s been working toward, and Blaine and Taylor will both be in his life, because nothing makes sense otherwise.

After he takes his phone out of his pocket, Kurt notices a few new texts from his dad - good luck messages from him and Carole, and a reminder that they’ll see him after the show tomorrow night. Kurt’s smile is so big it hurts. His dad is going to see him on Broadway. This _has_ to be the right future. He may not be living with Taylor yet or have a ring on his finger, but as long as they’re working toward it, maybe it doesn’t matter. Love isn’t a _race_ , right? As long as Taylor’s around and Blaine is still in his life, everything will be fine. Hell, maybe everything will be fine if he just has one of them. This is Broadway, after all.

It’s like a punch to the stomach when Kurt realizes that Blaine isn’t in his contacts list. He checks three times, increasingly desperate, and even goes into his email and Facebook accounts to see if he’s in contact with him somehow, but there’s nothing. Blaine can’t be found anywhere in this life Kurt was convinced must be his perfect future, and once that sinks in, he tosses his phone aside and curls up into himself on the bed, trying to fight back tears. The elation he’d felt just a few minutes prior makes the fallout all the worse. This isn’t it, this isn’t his perfect future, this isn’t what will stop all the visions. It was just a few minutes of false hope, and Kurt feels betrayed. How cruel to be shown this, only to have it taken away. He wants out of here as soon as possible.

It’s nighttime, and he’s tired, so he hopes that he might be able to pass the rest of his visit by sleeping. He doesn’t want any more information about this world that he can’t have, and when he finally wakes up back in his own bed in 2016, he tries to convince himself that that’s the reason that he never bothered to check for Taylor after he found out Blaine wasn’t a part of his life.

Kurt’s own reasoning doesn’t sit well with him, though. He should have checked for Taylor. One of his main goals in all of this is getting the future he wants with Taylor. If he had a Broadway role and a good relationship with his boyfriend, that should have been enough to convince him to keep that future the way it was. But all it had taken was the knowledge that his friendship with Blaine had ended, and Kurt couldn’t tolerate any of it. He’s gotten so caught up in Blaine lately that he can’t even imagine a future that’s any good without him. It’s troubling, wondering whether or not he’d have looked for Blaine if he’d checked for Taylor first and found nothing. He’s been in love with Taylor for three and a half years, and all he has from Blaine besides the heartbroken high school memories of being second best are the past six weeks of support. There shouldn’t be any comparison. He shouldn’t have checked for Blaine first at all. None of this makes any sense.

He’s tempted to cancel his plans with Blaine that night, because it will be hard to hide how upset he is, but in the end, Kurt’s desire to see Blaine wins out. If nothing else, the evening will be a distraction from his racing thoughts. Blaine’s apartment is always fully stocked with alcohol, if Blaine’s company isn’t distraction enough. Both of them have been looking forward to this evening since they planned it last week. They’re going to make dinner together, start a Grey’s Anatomy marathon, and pointedly _not_ think about the approaching end of the semester deadlines. As long as Kurt can add his other issues to the list of things they won’t be discussing, it should still be a fun night.

They’ve only been working on dinner for a few minutes when Blaine asks him what’s wrong.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Kurt replies, keeping his eye on the onion he’s chopping.

“Are you sure? Because you--”

“We’re not talking about stressful stuff tonight, remember?”

“I thought we weren’t going to talk about school,” Blaine says. “ But I’m guessing this isn’t about school.”

Kurt sighs. He’s been vague with Blaine for the past few days about his visits to the future, so he should have assumed Blaine would bring it up eventually. “It’s been a rough few nights,” he admits, finally meeting Blaine’s eye.

“What’s been happening? Is everyone okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, no one’s hurt or dead or anything,” Kurt assures him. “I just… well, Taylor’s gone, and I haven’t even been trying to change anything, so I don’t know why.”

Blaine’s quiet for a moment. “I’m sorry,” he says eventually. “I know you thought you were on the right track with that.”

After that, Blaine reluctantly lets him change the subject, and they get through dinner with talk of Rachel’s show and gossip about Kurt’s coworkers at Vogue. Despite their rule about discussing school, Kurt allows Blaine to vent some frustration at his acting professor for not being clear on all of the rules for the final performance assignment before gently guiding the topic back to happier things.

Kurt’s able to avoid discussing his issues further until they’re sharing the couch, midway through their first episode of Grey’s Anatomy. He’s not paying much attention and Blaine catches on pretty quickly.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it, Kurt? I don’t want to push, but maybe it would help? I know I don’t know all that much about Taylor, but--”

“It’s not just about Taylor,” Kurt says before he can stop himself. Even though it’s a future he’s going to lose, Kurt still wants to share his Broadway news, and it’s been hard keeping it to himself all day. “There’s another thing. Last night, I was on Broadway, in a pretty big role in a new show that was about to open.”

Blaine’s eyes widen. “Oh my god, that’s amazing!”

“Right. Except…”

“Oh, right. No Taylor.”

“I didn’t even check to see if Taylor was part of my life,” Kurt admits. “I mean, he hasn’t been for a few days now, but last night I didn’t look into it much. I definitely wasn’t living with him, but I didn’t try to figure anything else out once I realized--” He cuts himself off. He hasn’t mentioned to Blaine yet that his presence in Kurt’s future is something that Kurt’s been looking for recently.

“Once you realized what?” prompts Blaine. “Was it a crappy musical?”

Kurt can’t help but be a bit offended at the suggestion. “No, it seemed good from what I read. But, um, you weren’t there. We weren’t friends, so… I don’t think it’s really the future I’m supposed to have, you know?”

Blaine looks surprised. “I didn’t realize that was something that was important to you.”

“Of course it’s important to me. We’re friends and there isn’t any reason why we shouldn’t still be friends in five years, but you’ve been gone for weeks now and I have no idea why,” Kurt says, barely stopping to take a breath. “And I’m not saying we need to be _best friends_ , but you’re not there at all, and I’ve already lost you once and it was awful and I hate knowing that I have to go through that again.”

“You won’t,” Blaine says. “We’ll just have to fix that.”

Kurt lets out a frustrated sigh. “Sure, we’ll just add it to the list. I haven’t been able to fix _anything_ , Blaine.”

“That’s not true. You just told me you were on Broadway last night! That’s quite a bit different than the coffeeshop job you started out with.”

“It doesn’t even matter that I was on Broadway, though, because even if everything was perfect and Taylor and I were married and you and I were still friends, I wouldn’t know how to keep it that way! I don’t even know what I did to make Broadway happen in the first place!”

“You’re amazingly talented and you work hard,” Blaine says. “ _That’s_ how it happened.”

“But those things were true every other time I went into the future and served coffee or sold menswear or keyed tax information into a database,” Kurt argues desperately. “I have no idea what one thing I did yesterday to change my whole future around. You were right, it really could have been anything. It could have been a comment I read on a news article online, or the fact that I didn’t give the busker by the subway station any change. Hell, it could have been the lunch I ate. It doesn’t even matter, because I still haven’t figured out how to _stop this_.”

“I thought you said it was going to stop when you got it right?” Blaine asks.

“That was a theory!” Kurt snaps. “I think it’s pretty clear at this point I have no idea what the hell I’m doing. I’m probably going to find the perfect future life eventually and then have to watch my present self throw it all away because I can’t figure out how to keep good things in my life. Maybe that’s the point of all of this. It isn’t a way for me to fix my future, it’s just a harsh reminder that I’m doomed to a life of mediocrity and sadness, that I was stupid to ever think I could get my dreams to come true, and--”

“Kurt,” Blaine interrupts him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Calm down, okay? I’m sure that’s not what it is.”

Kurt wipes angrily at the tears forming in his eyes. “It’s easy for you to be calm, Blaine. This isn’t happening to you. You don’t even believe it’s happening to _me_.”

“Of course I believe it’s happening to you,” Blaine says, squeezing Kurt’s shoulder. “I also believe that your future is going to be amazing, even if it doesn’t end up the way you thought you wanted. So maybe you change something today and you won’t be in the exact show you were in last night, but you’ll be in something else. Maybe you won’t be married to Taylor, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to be alone and unhappy.”

“And even if I’m not friends with you, that’s fine, too?” Kurt asks. “I’ll just be friends with someone else and be happy with it?”

“Well, no, I’m irreplaceable,” Blaine jokes, and Kurt huffs out a laugh.

“I’m being serious, Blaine.”

“I know. I think you’re forgetting something, though.”

“And what’s that?” asks Kurt, puzzled.

“It’s not just you who’s affecting your future,” Blaine says, eyes locked on Kurt’s. “You don’t need to worry about losing me. That’s up to me, too, and I’m not leaving. You’re stuck with me.”

“But something happened,” Kurt argues even as he’s filled with a rush of affection for Blaine. “You’re gone, you have been for weeks, and--”

Blaine cuts him off. “I won’t be now,” he promises, running his hand down Kurt’s arm soothingly. “If you want me there, I’m going to be there.”

Kurt’s leaning forward before he even realizes what’s happening, closing the distance between them on the couch and pressing his lips gently against Blaine’s. “I want you there,” Kurt says as soon as he pulls away. Blaine’s eyes are wide with surprise, but his lips curl up into a smile before he leans toward Kurt and presses their lips together again. It’s firmer than Kurt’s kiss, and Kurt lets out a surprised “ooomph” and falls backward a bit on the couch, but Blaine wraps an arm around his lower back before he can fall too far. Kurt’s only ever kissed Taylor like this, but kissing someone else isn’t as strange as he always thought it would be. Kissing Blaine feels like fulfilling a teenage dream Kurt wasn’t even aware until now that he still held onto.

The rush of emotion that comes with it is something he’s not sure he would have been able to handle in high school. It’s overwhelming even now, having Blaine’s lips on his. Blaine, who has broken his heart but also has been there for him in ways that no one else has - in ways that Kurt has never _allowed_ anyone else to be there for him.

“I am so, so glad to hear you say that,” Blaine murmurs against Kurt’s lips, breathless. “You have no idea.”

Kurt kisses him again, because he’s pretty sure he does have an idea. This wasn’t planned or expected, but Kurt’s starting to realize that it doesn’t mean it came out of nowhere, that he hasn’t been waiting for this for weeks without knowing it. It’s freeing, being so wrapped up in Blaine, and Kurt feels better than he has since the whole time traveling mess started. Maybe even better than he’d felt for months before that. The television is quickly forgotten as Kurt pushes Blaine down so he’s lying with his back on the couch, breathing heavily, and as Kurt leans down over him to start kissing him again, Blaine stops him.

“We should go into my bedroom,” he says. “In case…” He shoots a glance at the front door, and Kurt remembers that Sebastian lives here, too, and might be returning home anytime with his own date. Because Kurt is on a date, he realizes now. They made dinner together and watched TV pressed up against one another on the couch, how did he not see this coming?

“Good plan,” he says, but can’t resist leaning down to pin Blaine fully against the couch and press a lingering kiss to his lips. Blaine responds eagerly, and it’s a few more minutes before they’re able to tear themselves away from each other long enough to get off of the couch. Blaine laughs at Kurt’s failed attempts to turn off the television and blu-ray player and finally takes the remote from him so he can do it himself, but it’s Kurt’s turn to laugh as Blaine stumbles while leading Kurt by the hand into his bedroom. Blaine quiets him with a searing kiss as soon as they’re inside the bedroom with the door locked behind them.

It’s not a hard decision to make, when Blaine’s hand hovers over Kurt’s fly and he sends Kurt a questioning look. Kurt nods his permission without stopping to think about what he’s doing. It _should_ be a harder decision, one with thought put into it, because Kurt’s spent the last three and a half years with the romantic notion that Taylor is his one and only, but that all fades into the background when he’s pressed so close to Blaine, being given this opportunity he never let himself believe he’d have.

It’s not the most romantic sex he’s ever had - it’s quick and desperate, but any nerves Kurt anticipated from sleeping with someone new for the first time aren’t an issue, maybe because he knows Blaine so well already. He’s at ease with Blaine in a way it had taken him quite a long time to be with Taylor, even though they had been dating a few months before they started sleeping together. It helps that Blaine isn’t holding back. He’s enthusiastic and far more vocal than Kurt is used to, and it’s hard for Kurt to be self-conscious with Blaine stretched out naked before him, begging to be fucked. It’s all over too quickly, and the two of them are lying pressed together on Blaine’s bed, sweaty and exhausted, when Blaine asks if Kurt wants to get up and shower.

“Not really,” Kurt tells him. “I don’t feel like moving at all.”

Blaine huffs out a laugh. “Works for me,” he says, pressing a kiss to Kurt’s shoulder before sitting up so he can grab a few tissues out of the box on his nightstand to wipe them both off. “Stay here tonight?” he asks Kurt, looking hopeful. “It will put off moving as long as possible.”

“Okay,” Kurt agrees. Blaine’s answering smile is too much for Kurt to take without pulling Blaine back down against him and kissing him again.

It’s early, but Kurt falls asleep not long after that, his bare skin against Blaine’s, Blaine’s arms wrapped loosely around him, feeling more at peace than he’s felt in months. In the last few moments before he drifts off, he lets his mind wander to a future where falling asleep with Blaine feeling safe and connected is the norm. _Maybe this is it_ , he thinks as Blaine absently strokes his back. _Maybe this is what will fix my future._

-

Kurt wakes up with Blaine’s arms still wrapped around him.

It takes him a few minutes to take in his surroundings. He’s so used to being thrust into random times of the day in the future that being in a bed is somewhat strange. Being in the same bed he fell asleep in is even stranger. For one fleeting moment, Kurt thinks he was right - he’s fixed things. He fell asleep with Blaine and didn’t travel to the future at all. He breathes out a sigh of relief, and Blaine stirs next to him as Kurt settles back into his arms.

“You okay?” Blaine murmurs sleepily into his ear.

“Perfect,” Kurt replies, lifting one of Blaine’s hand’s up to his mouth press a kiss to it. That’s when he notices the band on his own left index finger and freezes.

Blaine notices immediately. “What’s wrong?”

“We’re married?” Kurt asks, trying to work things through in his head. If he’s married, then this must be the future. He much preferred the idea of his future trips being over, but this isn’t terrible, either. Blaine will probably make a very good husband once he ditches his unhealthy obsession with Sebastian.

Blaine laughs, but it’s not a pleasant sound. “You’re still drunk. Go back to sleep. You set an alarm, right? If you’re not home by nine, your husband is going to murder me.”

Kurt’s stomach twists. “My husband,” he echoes, glancing back down at his hand, still wrapped around Blaine’s. In his shock over his own ring, he hadn’t noticed that Blaine wasn’t wearing one.

“What, you don’t enjoy the constant reminders that you’re married?” Blaine asks, his tone icy. Kurt can’t believe this has gotten so awful so fast. “Because if so, you might want to try taking that ring off when you’re here.”

It really sinks in then, what’s going on. Kurt’s married to someone else and sleeping with Blaine. He’s _cheating_ _,_ and it’s something Kurt never thought he’d be capable of, not really. He’d exchanged some flirtatious text messages with a classmate for a few months while he and Taylor had been going through a rough patch, but that was as far as Kurt had ever thought he could go. This wasn’t harmless text messages, this was an _affair._

“I don’t feel well,” Kurt mumbles, shaking free of Blaine’s grip and the blankets to climb out of the bed. The apartment feels like a second home to him after spending so much time there in both his present and his future trips, and after grabbing a phone on the nightstand that he hopes belongs to him, he reaches the bathroom quickly and shuts the door behind him. He doesn’t feel like he’s actually going to be sick and he has no desire to look at himself in the mirror, so he locks the door and sinks to the floor leaning against it, hoping it will keep Blaine away for a little while. Not that he’s sure if Blaine will even bother checking on him. They’re not dating, they’re not married, they’re just sleeping together, and Kurt’s going home to someone else later.

He opens his phone’s Facebook app first, knowing it will answer his most important question quicker than scrolling through recent texts. After opening up his own profile, his jaw drops at the words. _Married to Taylor Tierney._

It’s so ridiculous that Kurt barks out a laugh. This is it - he’s gotten what he wanted. He’s married to Taylor and Blaine’s a part of his life. The idea of checking how twisted his job situation might be scares him, and it’s not terribly important, considering the shambles his personal life is in this scenario. Right now, he just wants some background information on how things got this way.

After skimming through his wedding pictures and not being terribly impressed with how everything looked, Kurt moves on to his texts. His last exchange with Taylor is just a few hours ago. He’d messaged his husband to let him know that he was running lines with Marianne and was going to stay the night since it was so late. Reading it feels like a punch in the stomach as he sits on Blaine’s bathroom floor in just his underwear. He’s cheating, lying, using someone as a cover. Does she even know that she’s being used for this purpose?

The rest of the texts with Taylor aren’t very telling. They message back and forth about picking up groceries and paying bills and end everything with a heart, like nothing’s wrong, and Kurt cringes every time he sees a mention of hanging out with Marianne. Maybe they’re not having problems at all. Maybe Taylor has no idea what’s going on.

His texts with Blaine reveal a bit more. There’s nothing too graphic, of course. Even this horrifyingly inconsiderate asshole version of himself is too smart to leave too many obvious clues, but Kurt is able to pick up enough details to make him feel even worse about the situation.

After about half an hour, there’s a soft knock on the door. “Kurt? Are you okay?”

Kurt’s not sure how to answer that question. He’s never been less okay, not in the most mediocre of all his futures. Even back at the beginning of his future trips, when he and Blaine were fighting, at least no one was cheating. He can’t tell Blaine any of this without Blaine figuring out that he’s not really who Blaine thinks he is. He’s not Kurt from 2021 who’s been having an affair with Blaine for years, he’s the Kurt from 2016 who just slept with Blaine for the first time a few hours ago and had no idea how much it would mess up his future. This Blaine will remember that Kurt, though, remember all the nights he spent traveling in time and telling Blaine about it after. _Is it still happening?_ Kurt wants to ask. _Am I still traveling five years in the future every time I fall asleep? Have we really been doing this for five years? Did I really make up a lie about work on my last wedding anniversary so I could spend it with you instead?_

All he says is, “I’m fine.”

“I’m sorry about bringing up the ring again,” Blaine adds. “I know that… I know you don’t like to talk about that, and--”

Kurt interrupts, unable to listen to any more of this. “Please stop.” How can Blaine be sorry, when Kurt’s the one cheating? Why is Blaine even putting up with this? If Sebastian is to be believed, Blaine’s interested in romance - getting married, living happily ever after, just like Kurt is, but instead he’s sleeping with a married man. Kurt could ask, dig around for more answers. Blaine is usually pretty accommodating, and he seems amenable to conversation right now. Kurt could tell him the truth, tell him that he’s just a visitor to the future and ask for more details on how things got so horrible, but he’s never revealed himself to anyone in the future before, and he’s a little scared of what would happen. What if Blaine rolls his eyes, says he’s sick of that excuse, that he never really believed that crazy stuff Kurt used to say about the time traveling? In the end, the details of the past five years don’t really matter anyway - it’s obvious that this is something that he needs to change immediately, no matter what the circumstances are. More information is only going to upset him more, and the best thing he can do right now is stop digging for it and just wait out the next few hours. He can’t fix anything about the future, so there’s no point in stressing until he’s back in 2016.

“I’m fine,” Kurt says again, trying to sound more sure of himself. “I’m really just not feeling all that well. I’ll be back to bed in a minute.”

“Okay.” Kurt can tell Blaine doesn’t quite believe him, but he hears footsteps walking away from the door, and after a few minutes of gathering his courage, Kurt pulls himself to his feet and unlocks the door.

Blaine’s not asleep when Kurt gets back to the bedroom, but he doesn’t say anything when Kurt crawls back into bed facing away from Blaine, keeping a few inches of space between them. A few minutes pass in silence with Kurt lying still, lonely, terrified, and longing to wake up in a place where he still has the chance to fix this. Blaine’s breath is warm on his neck, and Kurt aches to touch him, to scoot back a few inches and just feel Blaine against him and know he’s not alone. There wouldn’t be any harm in taking comfort from Blaine right now anyway, in a future that will disappear as soon as Kurt wakes up again and puts a stop to it, so he indulges himself, leans back against Blaine and lets out a breath when Blaine wraps an arm around him and presses a kiss to his shoulder. The kiss is familiar to him, even though it’s only happened once before now, earlier that night when Kurt still thought all of this was harmless. Blaine’s probably been kissing his shoulder like this for five years. Kurt hasn’t felt all of them, but it hurts knowing that this will be the last one, all the same.

Blaine’s breathing evens out a few minutes later and his grip on Kurt grows lax, but Kurt lies awake for hours with Blaine’s arm draped over him, trying not to think about what he’s going to have to do when he wakes up in the present.

-

Kurt wakes up to a scene eerily familiar to the one he left behind in the future - in Blaine’s bed, with Blaine’s arm draped over him. It’s early still, but sunlight is starting to filter in through the gap in the closed curtains. Back in his own time, the guilt hasn’t faded at all. Kurt still feels sick to his stomach as he thinks about what his actions the night before had led to, and he can’t bear to stay in bed with Blaine any longer now that he knows how much it might affect the future.

His scramble to get out of the bed is enough to wake Blaine, who tries to blink the sleep from his eyes as Kurt hastily pulls his clothes back on.

“What’re you doing?” Blaine says around a yawn. “It’s Saturday, you can sleep a little longer.”

The idea of going back to that future, or possibly something even worse, makes Kurt shudder. “Easy for you to say,” he says. “Sleep isn’t a nightmare for you every single time.”

Blaine’s eyes widen in shock at Kurt’s harsh tone. “Sorry, I just meant…” He trails off, then searches Kurt’s face for a moment. “Did something happen? What’s wrong?”

“Everything. _Everything_ is messed up now,” Kurt replies, searching the room for his phone. “Where is my phone?”

“Maybe out in the living room,” Blaine suggests as he pulls himself into a sitting position on the bed. “What do you mean, everything’s messed up?”

“I mean I’m a cheater. This turned me into one,” Kurt says, waving his arm at the bed. “ _You_ turned me into a cheater.”

“You’re not even dating anyone, Kurt.” Blaine sounds so calm, but it only serves to make Kurt angrier.

“Not _now_ , in the future. You know, where I go every single night?” Kurt snaps. “Well, last night I got to visit a _lovely_ version of the future where I’m married to Taylor, but I’ve been fucking you for five years. This was a huge mistake, I can’t believe that I--”

“That makes no sense,” Blaine says, scrunching up his face in confusion. “Why would we--”

“It doesn’t matter why, it just matters that it’s going to happen, and I can’t let it.”

“Okay, so we won’t let that happen.”

“What if it’s not that easy?” Kurt challenges. “I think we need to stay away from each other for awhile. This all started with you, and I thought that meant I needed to fix it with you, but maybe it just meant that I should stay away from you. That nothing good would come from me reconnecting with you.”

Blaine’s jaw drops. “ _That’s_ your takeaway from this? Seriously? That I screwed everything up for you? I’m the only person trying to help you!”

“And you’re not!” Kurt cries. “Everything in the future just keeps getting worse. Last night was just the final straw.”

“There were two of us there last night,” Blaine reminds him. “You were so desperate to keep me in your life then, remember? Now all of a sudden you want me gone?”

“I _can’t_ be a cheater, Blaine,” Kurt says, voice wavering. He knows he’ll lose all of his conviction if he allows himself to start crying, and right now, the most important thing is that he gets out of here. “I want to be married to Taylor, and I don’t know how else to make it happen the way it’s supposed to.”

Blaine’s voice is laced with sarcasm when he replies. “Here’s an idea. Maybe if your goal is to be married to your ex in the future, you should be _talking to your ex._ I know it sounds totally crazy, but it just might work!”

Kurt’s so angry that he stops worrying about holding his tears back for a minute. “Don’t act like this is some easy thing to fix! You don’t know what I’m going through at all!”

“How do you figure? It’s all you talk about, your perfect future life and how you’re married to Taylor in it. I can’t believe you haven’t figured out the obvious - if you want to be married to this guy in the future, you should be talking to him now, trying to get him back. _Dating him_. If that’s the future you really want, then I don’t have much to do with it at all.”

“If it’s so _obvious_ , why didn’t you mention that before?” Kurt snaps. “Aren’t you supposed to be helping me?”

Blaine looks away, doesn’t answer the question, and Kurt’s anger boils over at the knowledge that Blaine’s been holding back suggesting things that could have helped.

“We shouldn’t see each other anymore,” Kurt says after it’s become clear that Blaine doesn’t have an excuse to give him. “This isn’t helping, and you’re right. I should be talking to Taylor, not you. I never cared about not having you in my life before, and this has just gotten me way, way off track.”

Blaine’s eyes meet Kurt’s again, a mix of anger and hurt that makes Kurt feel like he’s been struck. “Well, I’m glad that’s sorted out, then,” Blaine says. “Good luck with Taylor, Kurt. I’m sure you remember how to find the door yourself?”

Kurt has to look away from him then, has to leave now or else he’ll never have the strength to do it. He turns and leaves Blaine behind, his question unanswered, and heads out into the living room to pick up the rest of his things. Sebastian’s sitting on the couch with a bowl of cereal, watching television, and though Kurt can’t think of anyone he wants to see less right now, his only option is to retreat back into the bedroom, and that can’t happen, so he marches forward, grabbing his bag off of the floor by the couch and searching for his phone, trying to ignore Sebastian’s stare. He knows Sebastian must have heard them arguing. They weren’t quiet and these walls aren’t very thick, and the tears streaming down his face are even more of an invitation for Sebastian to mock him.

When Sebastian does speak, all he says is, “Your phone is on the kitchen counter, if that’s what you’re looking for.”

Because of course Sebastian wants him out of here as soon as possible. How smug he must be after hearing them fight, knowing that Kurt might not be coming back. He sends a glare Sebastian’s way before retrieving his phone, willing himself not to reply and start a fight that will keep him in this apartment even longer, but once he has has his hand on the doorknob, the urge to get the last word is too much.

“You’re not going to see me again,” Kurt says as he pulls the door open. “But I don’t want you to think for _one second_ that this has anything to do with you. I wouldn’t give you that satisfaction.”

Sebastian looks puzzled for a moment and looks down the hallway towards Blaine’s bedroom for a second before turning back to Kurt, smug look firmly in place. “I wasn’t under the impression that it had anything to do with me, since you’re so good at ruining everything all by yourself, but thank you for clearing that up,” he drawls before taking another bite of cereal. “Have a nice life, Kurt!”

Kurt slams the door behind him. The silver lining of all of this is that with Blaine goes Sebastian, so he’ll never have to deal with that again. It doesn’t stop his tears from falling as he climbs down the stairs in Blaine’s building for the last time. His phone buzzes in his pocket as he exits the building, and when he notices that it’s from Blaine he clears the message away without reading it. Before he can put his phone into his pocket, it vibrates again, this time with a message from Taylor.

_Taylor Tierney: Are you free to meet up for coffee or something today? Just as friends, maybe? I know I should’ve taken the hint by now, but we haven’t spent my birthday apart since we met and it feels wrong not seeing you._

With all of the stuff going on his life recently, Kurt had completely forgotten that Taylor’s birthday was coming up. He closes the message, ready to ignore it like he has all of Taylor’s recent texts, when he remembers Blaine’s words. If he wants to be happily married to Taylor, he needs to _talk_ to Taylor. Blaine’s right - it _is_ obvious, and he can’t understand why he hadn’t figured it out before. Kurt takes a deep breath, then starts tapping out his response.

_Kurt Hummel: How about I treat you to a birthday lunch instead? I think it’s time we talked._

-

It’s not as easy as Kurt expected to fall back into a relationship with Taylor. Other times they’ve gotten back together after a break, the first month has been wonderful, with both of them going out of their way to be attentive and kind. Taylor’s trying, but Kurt knows his own efforts aren’t matching up and Taylor won’t keep quiet about it for long. Taylor knows him well enough to know when he’s holding back, and Kurt knows Taylor well enough to recognize the signs of his annoyance. Sooner or later, this is going to turn into a fight.

Kurt would be more willing to change his strategy if his visits to the future weren’t on the right track, but in the month after he starts dating Taylor again, there isn’t one future he visits where he and Taylor aren’t married. Kurt doesn’t change anything major - he’d forgotten his notebook at Blaine’s apartment, and without a reference of what’s already happened, he’s even more afraid than usual of breaking that fragile connection. He hasn’t been able to find that perfect future yet, the one where they’re still madly in love after all these years, living in a beautiful apartment and working jobs they enjoy. Kurt’s starting to lose hope that a future like that exists for him at all. Most visits, he’s not even with Taylor, and the only hint that he’s married comes from the ring on his finger and the _About_ section of his Facebook page. When he is with Taylor, they don’t talk much. A few times, Kurt has entered the scene mid-argument. Money seems to be a big issue with them in the future, and there’s not a lot of trust with regard to other men, either. It’s not that hard to believe, given their past, but Kurt had always assumed it would get better with time, that they would stop giving each other reasons to doubt their fidelity.

Visiting imperfect futures was the norm for him long before Taylor was back in his life, but when he had been seeing Blaine every day, there were at least bright spots in his present. Now, with Blaine gone in both his current and future life and no one to discuss anything about his travels with, Kurt feels more lost than he’s ever felt. It doesn’t help that Blaine spends the first three weeks of their separation periodically sending Kurt texts and leaving voicemails. It’s much harder to ignore Blaine’s messages than it was to ignore Taylor’s, and he can’t wait for the day that Blaine finally gives up. He misses Blaine, and not just because he had been Kurt’s only confidante. Having Blaine as a friend again had significantly lessened his stress, and each day that passes without Blaine’s warmth, kindness, and sense of humor is a struggle, especially with his bleak future visits and finals week at school fast approaching.

Blaine does give up, eventually - the messages start slowing in frequency and then stop completely, but Kurt doesn’t feel relieved. Blaine had promised to stick around, and it hurts more than Kurt expected to realize that it was a lie.

“Are you and Isaac free tonight?” he asks Rachel over lunch one Monday afternoon a little over a month into his rekindled relationship with Taylor. “I have dinner plans with Taylor, I thought it would be nice if we could make it into a double date.”

Rachel scrunches up her face. “No, thank you!”

“Why not?” Kurt asks. His time spent with Taylor is becoming so awkward that he’s desperate for any way of adding some distraction to their dates.

“It won’t be any fun. When he was here the other day, it was so tense! Isaac and I like to _enjoy_ our time out with friends, thank you very much.”

“It was not _that_ tense,” Kurt scoffs. “We’re just… still getting to know each other again.”

Rachel rolls her eyes. “You know him well enough to know you can barely stand being in the same room with him. I don’t see why that’s not enough.”

“You always used to like Taylor!”

“So did you!” she shoots back. “Things change. Have you seen Blaine lately?”

“He’s been busy,” Kurt lies. “And I have, too, with Taylor, so it’s been hard.”

She raises an eyebrow. “He hasn’t been too busy to call me and ask how you are. Seems like something he could have asked you on his own.”

“He called you?” Kurt asks, panicked. “What did he say?”

Rachel looks startled by his tone. “Nothing, really, just that he hadn’t seen you in a while and he knew you were stressed, and he wanted to make sure you were okay. How come you’re avoiding him?”

Kurt sighs, knowing there’s no way to avoid telling her at least a truncated version of the truth. “We got into a fight,” he says. “It’s sort of… personal, I don’t really want to talk about it. What did you tell him?”

“I told him him you were fine. I figured there was a reason you weren’t talking to him yourself, and it’s not my place to tell him about how miserable and stressed out you are if you don’t want him to know.”

Kurt breathes a sigh of relief that she hadn’t spilled any details. He thought he’d been hiding his distress better. “Thank you.”

She shrugs. “It’s what friends do. They also try and figure out what’s wrong when there is something _clearly_ off with their friends, but it’s sort of hard when they’re being shut out.”

He feels guilty then, for keeping this secret for so long, for only trusting Blaine with it, but it’s not enough to make him want to share with Rachel, either. It will probably sound even more unbelievable now, if he’s claiming it’s been going on for months. Blaine had hardly believed him even after spending so much time dealing with the consequences.

“Friends also sometimes let you off the hook with no questions asked, right?” Kurt asks, giving her a hopeful smile and batting his eyelashes, which makes her laugh as she stands up to bring her plate to the sink.

“I suppose.”

“And go out on double dates even though it might be a little bit awkward?”

“I actually can’t tonight, Kurt,” says Rachel apologetically. “We’re going to see one of his friends perform at a club. You should ask Santana, though! It would be the perfect opportunity for you to meet her new girlfriend.”

Kurt cocks his head to one side. “She has a new girlfriend?” he asks, feeling slightly ashamed that he’s so out of the loop with all of his friends lately. For all he knows, Sam and Mercedes flew to Vegas and eloped sometime in the past few weeks.

“Mmhmm,” Rachel replies, leaning back against the sink. “Laurie, they’ve been dating a few weeks now.”

“Oh, I’ve met Laurie,” Kurt says without thinking. “She’s nice, I like her.”

Rachel frowns. “When did you meet her? Santana told me yesterday that she hasn’t seen you since spring break.”

It hits Kurt then, the mistake he’s made. Laurie’s become such a constant in his future, and he even lived with her at one point, that it’s odd to think of her as someone she hasn’t met yet. “Right, right, of course, I must be thinking of someone else,” Kurt says, but can’t help himself from adding, “So, um, what does she look like? Does she have red hair?”

“How did you know?”

“Lucky guess,” Kurt says with a shrug, feeling pleased. It’s the first solid proof he’s gotten since entering Blaine's apartment and recognizing it that he’s not completely out of his mind with this time traveling stuff. Even though he was already convinced, it feels good to have more evidence to support his theory. He reaches for his phone to send Blaine a text before remembering that he can’t. “I’ll call her and see if she’s free. If I offer to pay, I’m sure she’ll be there in a heartbeat.”

“She definitely will, if she’s free,” Rachel agrees, standing up and bringing her plate over to the sink. “I have to go run a few errands before I meet up with Isaac. I’m staying over at his place tonight, so don’t wait up. And don’t call me unless it’s an emergency.”

Kurt laughs as he stands up to rinse off his own plate. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Rachel steps out of his way. “Good. Now come here, give me a hug, and promise me you’ll tell me if you ever want to talk?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Kurt says, letting Rachel wrap her arms around him and give him a squeeze.

-

It takes another traumatic future visit to draw Kurt out of his funk.

It happens that night, when he has his first major fight with Taylor since their reconciliation, and Kurt lies awake in bed alone for hours that night, replaying Taylor’s accusations in his head. _“You strung me along all this time for nothing. You’re not even trying.”_

Kurt had thought it was ridiculous at the time - of course he’s trying. He knows they belong together. He might not be trying as hard as Taylor, with the constant invitations to go out, to stay over at his house, to come to his sister’s wedding in August, but Kurt upended the comfortable life he’d managed to fall into the past few months for this - cutting Blaine out of his life and restarting this relationship before he felt ready, all to fix their future together, to get to that happy ending they’ve both wanted for years.

He wants things to work out, and he knows he could try harder, could say yes more, spend more time with Taylor, try and get back to the place they were before - but he doesn’t _want_ to try harder, to put more effort into this, which is the most confusing part of it all. Kurt couldn’t say any of that to Taylor, though, could only deny the accusations, get defensive, and watch Taylor leave the restaurant. They’d texted a bit after, made plans to meet up for coffee the next morning and talk things out, and Kurt makes a vow to himself that night as he lies in bed waiting for sleep, to try harder, to work for this relationship, to fix this now so his present is tolerable and future is bright.

When he finally falls asleep, he finds himself leaning against the bar at an unfamiliar club. It’s loud, dark, and chaotic, and Kurt feels ill-at-ease in this future before he even pulls his phone out of his pocket to start his normal information-gathering routine. The noise around him is too much, and he leaves the bar, hoping to find a bathroom where it might be quieter, because there’s a voicemail notification on his phone, and there’s no way he’ll be able to hear it out here. He also wants some peace to look through his messages and figure out if he’s here with somebody who will be able to help him get home - wherever his home is right now. It’s only 9:30 pm, according to his phone, and the idea of spending the next four or five hours in this place before he wakes up back in his bed is horrifically unappealing.

The bathroom is crowded, too, but not as loud, and Kurt heads for a corner, dials his voicemail and punches in the code he’s used since high school, and sticks a finger in the ear not pressed up against his phone. The message is from Santana, and he’s happy to hear a familiar voice until he understands what she’s saying.

“ _Hey, Kurt. I got the asshole to pick a time to come get his stuff. Well, actually, I had to go through Vicki, because he’s a coward. But I’m sure you already knew that. Anyway, your soon-to-be ex husband’s going to come by tomorrow around 11. I told him he has til 5. Laurie and I are going to be here, making sure he doesn’t take anything that’s not his, or break anything, or even_ look _at anything the wrong way, and to intercept all of his pathetic “I didn’t mean it, I’ll never do it again” bullshit before it has the chance to reach your too-forgiving ears. Mercedes is picking you up at 10:30, but Sam’s working all day, so unfortunately that hyperactive little demon they call a baby will be with her. Couldn’t be helped, sorry.”_ Santana pauses for a moment before letting out a sigh, When she starts talking again, her voice is softer. “ _I hope you’re feeling a little better._ _Call me if you need anything tonight, okay?”_

The message ends after that, and Kurt deletes it without thinking. There’s no doubt she’s talking about Taylor - his sister’s name is Vicki. Kurt’s not even sure he wants to know what exactly Taylor’s done to be forced to move out of their home. It could have been lying, cheating, stealing, maybe something worse. Apparently, even if Kurt’s not screwing up, that doesn’t guarantee a happy future for them.

He takes a deep breath and pockets his phone after that, not interested in looking for more information about this horrible version of the future. Things haven’t been great since he saw himself cheating on Taylor, but nothing had been this horrible since, and it’s more than discouraging to know he hasn’t even been moving things in the right direction. He’s not sure why his future self came to the club tonight, to get drunk or hook up or just find whatever distraction he could, but he doesn’t want to spend another minute dealing with the loud music and the writhing mass of bodies on the dancefloor, and he’d be much happier trying to get back to his apartment, or finding an an open diner where he can nurse a slice of cake for a while.

In his rush to leave the bathroom, he smashes into someone walking through the door. The hard impact knocks Kurt off-balance, and the other guy reaches out and grabs Kurt’s arm to prevent him from falling over. Before Kurt can mutter an apology and break free of the hold, he hears a voice he never thought he’d hear again.

“Kurt Hummel?” the guy asks, voice filled with shocked amusement. Kurt feels his stomach twist into knots. “You promised I’d never see you again!”

Sebastian Smythe, of all people, is standing in front of him, hand on his arm, amused by his misfortune.

It takes Kurt a minute to find his voice, and when he does, he’s embarrassed by how upset he sounds. “I didn’t think this night could get any worse.”

Sebastian’s grin widens. “Well, you know me, always happy to prove you wrong.”

It’s not particularly malicious for Sebastian, but Kurt can feel his eyes filling with tears anyway. He doesn’t have the emotional fortitude to handle this tonight, not after what he’s just learned, not after the fight with Taylor last night, not after this last five weeks of hell since he’s cut ties with Blaine. To Kurt’s chagrin, Sebastian notices his distress quickly, and the grin drops off his face.

“How drunk are you?” he asks, frowning. “Is anyone here with you?”

Kurt’s tears are falling freely now, and he knows it’s ridiculous, but he can’t stop himself. Sebastian is starting to look panicked, and he lets go of Kurt’s arm when he notices a few other people in the bathroom looking at them suspiciously. Kurt knows then that no matter what, he needs to change something _drastically_ once he wakes up in the present, because there is no way he is going to live in a world where his potential future involves embarrassing himself in front of Sebastian this badly.

“I’m fine,” Kurt manages to get out, wiping angrily at his eyes. “Fuck off, Sebastian, you are the last person I want to see right now.”

Kurt feels Sebastian’s eyes boring into him even though he’s avoiding eye contact.

“Whatever you say,” Sebastian says, turning on his heel and exiting the bathroom, leaving Kurt on his own again. After taking a moment to compose himself, Kurt follows, even more determined to get out of this place as soon as possible now that he knows Sebastian is in here as well.

He’s only made it a few yards when he hears his name being called. The tears start to fall again at the knowledge that Sebastian is just unable to leave him alone, but Kurt presses on, determined to make his way outside without engaging his pursuer again. He’s not fast enough.

“Kurt,” he hears as he feels someone grabbing his arm from behind. “Wait a second, will you? Are you okay?”

He recognizes the voice before he turns around, but somehow he’s still not expecting it to be Blaine, and when he sees the familiar face in front of him, looking concerned, it’s the most shocked Kurt’s felt all night.

“Blaine?” he whispers. He hasn’t seen Blaine, in 2016 or 2021, since he stormed out of the apartment, and despite Kurt’s distress, it still feels wonderful to see him.

“Sebastian said--” Blaine cuts himself off, tries again. “What are you doing here? Do you need help getting home?”

Just the mention of Sebastian’s name is enough to temper the relief he’d felt upon seeing Blaine’s face again. “You’re here with Sebastian?” he asks, unable to help himself. “Are you guys married yet?”

Blaine narrows his eyes. “No, but it’s good to know you’re still so hung up on that after all these years. And what do you care if I married him, anyway? Haven’t you been married for years?”

The reminder stings. “Yes, and according to a voicemail I just listened to, my husband will be moving out his things tomorrow. So my life is going pretty well, I guess.”

Blaine’s face fills with sympathy. “Jesus, that’s… I’m sorry, Kurt. What happened?”

Kurt barks out a laugh. “I don’t even know! He’s moving out, whatever happened is his fault, apparently, and Santana hates him, that is literally all I know. But I guess that’s all that’s important, right? My marriage only lasted a few years before it crashed and burned. Honestly, I shouldn’t even be surprised. Taylor and I are barely scraping by now, it’s a miracle we made it five more years.”

  
At the last statement, Blaine’s eyes widen. “You’re… holy shit, you’re… you’re not from now, are you? You’re… this is you, in the future, from the past? Like 2016?”

Kurt’s usually so careful in the future to keep quiet about the fact that he’s from the past, and it’s the first time anyone has known that he’s not who they think he is. It’s a strange feeling. Mostly, it’s a relief to have someone know where he’s coming from. “May 9th, 2016,” he says. “I haven’t seen you in five weeks.”

Blaine laughs. “I win - I haven’t seen you in five years.”

“I haven’t figured anything out yet,” Kurt tells him, unable to help himself now that he has someone he can unload on. “Nothing’s getting better. I don’t know how to fix anything at all, and I was so sure I knew what I had to do.”

“I’m not surprised you couldn’t figure anything out,” Blaine says. “You left the notebook at my apartment.”

That startles a laugh out of Kurt. “I sort of gave up on any organized approach after that,” he admits. “Not that it matters. Neither way has worked. Every night, I visit unhappy futures, and every day, I live in an unhappy present, and I don’t know how much longer I can do it. Maybe this is just my destiny, you know? To be unhappy everywhere, always, no matter what I do. Maybe that’s the point of this whole thing - maybe the message is that I should just never get my hopes up, because it’s pointless.” He wipes the tears from his eyes as Blaine puts a hand on his shoulder.

“I don’t think that’s it at all,” Blaine says, looking into Kurt’s eyes. “I think maybe you just haven’t figured everything out quite yet. Come on, let’s go outside, it’s so loud in here,” he adds, and Kurt allows himself to be pulled along. Blaine finds the exit with much more ease than Kurt would have, and once they’re out on the sidewalk, Blaine stops and turns to face Kurt again.

“This probably makes me a horrible person,” he starts, biting his lip, “But I’m kind of happy you’re not happy with the way things are going. I haven’t been happy, either. I think it was a mistake, you leaving. The reason I’m even here tonight is because Sebastian thought it might cheer me up.”

“Did it work?”

“Not in the way he expected, no,” Blaine says, and Kurt has to stamp down the fluttery feeling in his chest.

“I really doubt your unhappiness has anything to do with me,” he protests.

“It does,” insists Blaine. “It’s not the only problem, and I’m not trying to say my unhappiness is your fault, but… I miss you. It was stupid for you to just drop me like that.”

“You let me leave,” Kurt accuses, voice growing loud and hysterical as he remembers the promise Blaine didn’t keep. “You said you were going to be a part of my life no matter what, but that didn’t last very long, did it?”

“How long was I supposed to keep calling someone who would never answer?” Blaine yells back. “You made your choice, and I tried for _weeks_ to keep in touch. It was you who did this, not me, Kurt.”

Kurt prides himself on his ability to hold his own in an argument, but he doesn’t have it in him to fight tonight. He doesn’t have much to defend himself with, anyway - Blaine’s right, this is Kurt’s fault. Kurt pushed him away and ignored Blaine’s attempts to talk to him after, and there’s no logical basis for his argument here. He’s ruined this all on his own, and he’s known it for longer than he cares to admit. Instead of shooting back a reply at Blaine, Kurt turns away, burying his face in his hands as he lets himself break down into sobs. This night has been too taxing for him to hold it together anymore.

When Blaine speaks again, the anger is gone from his voice. “Kurt, come on, don’t do this, I--”

“Why would you even want to be a part of my life?” Kurt struggles to get out through his tears. “I’m awful. I have screwed up so much between us. I treated you terribly. You were the only one I trusted to help me with this, and you did anything I asked and were so wonderful and dedicated and I took advantage of that and then just left you behind like you didn’t matter. You do matter to me, Blaine,” Kurt says, raising his eyes to meet Blaine’s.

“I know,” Blaine replies. “And you’re not awful. You’ve done a lot of hurtful things, but I guess I’m not innocent in that regard, either. You’re really amazing, Kurt. You’re kind and compassionate and loving and _so_ funny, and when you’re not so wrapped up in other terrible things that are happening to you, there is no one more caring. I’ve never… no one’s ever made me feel as loved or as important as you have, even despite all of our issues.”

By the time Blaine’s finished with his speech, Kurt’s jaw has dropped. It’s touching, hearing Blaine say such wonderful things about him, but it makes him ache, too, knowing that he’s put Blaine through so much.

“You’re making me feel worse by being so nice,” he tells Blaine, a weak attempt at a joke that earns him a small smile from Blaine.

“Sorry. Can I help you get home or something? How long have you been here?”

“Only half an hour or so,” Kurt says. “I haven’t been sleeping much lately, though, so I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be here. I guess I should try and go home, anyway, in case it’s a while.” He has the sudden desire to ask Blaine to go grab some food with him, give them more time to talk, but it seems pointless. They won’t have long together, and Kurt will never find this exact future again.

“Do you know where you live? I can find you a cab.”

“It’s usually the same apartment lately, but not always,” Kurt says, pulling his wallet from his pocket so he can check his address on his driver’s license.

“You kept it,” Blaine says once Kurt has his wallet open. “The note, you still have it.”

“The note?” Kurt asks, confused.

“The Post-It note,” clarifies Blaine, pointing out the small, beaten-up blue paper folded up in one of the credit card slots in Kurt’s wallet.

“Oh,” Kurt says, surprised. It’s been there since Blaine placed it there months ago, but he hasn’t paid much attention to it since the first night he looked for it. “Yeah, I guess I never took it out.” He takes it out now, surveying the damage to the only link to his past, to Blaine, that he’s never gotten rid of. How often has his future self looked at the tiny blue paper and ached for his lost relationship with Blaine? Some writing on an inner fold catches his eye, and he unfolds the note fully to see what it says. The last time Kurt checked, that paper was blank. It’s not blank now, though, and once he gets the note unfolded, he immediately recognizes Blaine’s perfect, tiny cursive.

_You might be in a crappy future now, but don’t worry! You’re coming back to the present soon, and you still have time to fix it!_

Kurt looks over at Blaine. “When did you write this? I’ve never seen it.”

Blaine leans over to read the note. “Oh, I took it out and wrote that the same day you told me you’d seen it in the future. I thought maybe if you saw it in the future again and read it, you’d remember not to be so scared, since it would be over soon. I guess it didn’t help that much if you never looked.”

“I’m looking now,” Kurt murmurs, starting to get choked up again. His fingers itch to touch Blaine now that he’s so close, to pull him even closer, wrap his arms around him and apologize a thousand times and vow to never let go. They’re both quiet for a moment before Blaine speaks again.

“You, uh, live maybe ten minutes from here,” he says, indicating Kurt’s license with one hand as his other rubs at his own neck. “I can get a cab and… take you there, if you want? If you don’t want to be alone, I mean. You seem sort of… overwhelmed.”

“Um, yeah, that would be… great, if you don’t mind,” Kurt says. He checks the address on his license, and it’s the apartment he’s been in the most recently and could probably find his way just fine, but he’s not ready to be separated from Blaine quite yet. “I’ve just had a really awful night, and--”

“I don’t mind at all,” Blaine assures him.

Kurt’s hugs him before he can convince himself it’s a bad idea. Blaine is startled at first, letting out a small noise of surprise, but he doesn’t push Kurt away. He returns the hug after a few seconds, wrapping his arms around Kurt and running a soothing hand over his back as Kurt buries his face in Blaine’s shoulder, so overwhelmed at being so close to Blaine again after so long. It may have only been five weeks for him, but it feels like five years have really passed right now as he curls his fingers into the back of Blaine’s shirt.

“Thank you,” Kurt mumbles into Blaine’s shoulder before launching into a long overdue apology. “I’m sorry I blamed you for this and left and haven’t gotten in touch. I know it’s been five years for you and not for me, but I’m miserable in the past and I know myself well enough to know that I’m still miserable here. It shouldn’t have taken me this long to figure it out.” He remembers the Post-It note he’s just read and almost adds, “I still have time to fix it,” but it’s too strange a thing to tell someone that you’re intending on doing something that will make the current world they exist in different. He makes a silent vow to fix things as soon as he gets back to 2016, though, to revise his strategy, start over, because hugging Blaine feels like coming home after weeks of feeling adrift.

“It means a lot to hear you say that,” Blaine says before giving him a final squeeze.

They part so Blaine can hail a cab, and once one stops, Blaine climbs into the backseat and tells the driver where they’re headed after holding the door open for Kurt. Once they’re settled, Kurt moves closer to Blaine, unwilling to allow much space between them when he has Blaine with him for such a limited time. He’s been sleeping so little lately that he knows he could leave this future at any moment, and though he’s never given much thought to how the future world continues one he’s gone, now that it affects Blaine he’s starting to think about it. If Blaine is still here with him when it happens, will the real 2021 Kurt replace his 2016 self? Will that version of himself be as confused as he is whenever he enters the future? Or does this whole scene vanish as soon as Kurt wakes up, since every future he visits is affected by changes he makes?

It hurts to think about so Kurt pushes the questions from his mind and tries to just enjoy feeling Blaine pressed up against him, but it’s difficult. _I don’t want to wake up_ , he thinks as Blaine puts his arm around Kurt. _Please, please, don’t wake up._ This future isn’t perfect, not at all, but Blaine is here, and for the moment, that’s all that matters.

“I’m going to fix it,” he whispers, despite his earlier reservations about voicing this in front of Blaine. After all, Blaine had said he was unhappy, too.

Blaine squeezes his shoulder in response, and they sit quietly for a few minutes, pressed together, watching as the city lights fly by the cab windows.

It’s the last thing Kurt sees before he wakes up in the present.

-

It’s barely after 4am when Kurt sits up in his bed, and both his bedroom and the world outside are dark. Despite his desperation to stay in the future he’s just returned from, he knows that trying to go back to sleep will do no good. Even the realization that he needs to change things is enough to bring him to a different future now, and he even if he could find Blaine there, it wouldn’t make a difference. Kurt needs to fix things _here,_ and he doesn’t want to go to sleep again until he has.

Kurt knows it’s a large undertaking, but it feels like he’s emerged from a thick haze and suddenly the path before him is clear. Despite their fight last night, he and Taylor are still together, and when they meet for coffee today to talk before class, Kurt’s going to have to end things. There’s no point to continuing the charade any longer. They’re not happy now, and they’re not going to be happy in the future. Kurt doesn’t want Taylor, hasn’t in a long time, he was just too stubborn to admit it to himself after spending so many years convinced that the two of them were soulmates destined to live happily ever after. The harsh reality is that things should have ended the first time they broke up almost two years ago, and the only reason Kurt had wanted to fix things over and over again between them is that he thought he’d never find anything better. Now he knows that’s not the way to go - whether or not he ends up with Blaine, he and Taylor both deserve better than the farce they’re performing right now.

It’s too early to do anything about it right at this moment, though, and even if it was late enough in the morning to contact Blaine, Kurt feels like it would be wrong to even try until after he’s talked to Taylor. He spends the early hours of the morning relieving his nerves by cleaning the bathroom and proofreading the final paper he has to hand in at class today, and even after all that, a shower and a careful scouring of his wardrobe for an outfit worthy of a day in which he will be attempting to restructure his entire future, he’s still at the coffeeshop on campus ten minutes before his scheduled meet-up with Taylor.

Despite Kurt’s early enthusiasm and conviction in getting all of this taken care of today, waiting at the table for Taylor to arrive is nerve-wracking. When Taylor arrives, his face is grim, and Kurt thinks that maybe the two of them are on the same page - maybe, he thinks selfishly, Taylor will do the dirty work for him, will say he wants to end things so Kurt doesn’t have to.

That’s not how it happens.

It’s hard to end things, even though he knows it’s necessary. Taylor isn’t expecting Kurt to tell him he thinks they have to admit to themselves that they were over a long time ago, and the half hour that follows feels neverending. It’s filled with tears from both of them and a lot of apologies from Kurt, who by the end is a bit resentful that he’s not receiving any apologies himself. That goes along with being the one doing the dumping, though, he assumes. The bitterness doesn’t make hurting Taylor feel any better, and the betrayal on his face when Kurt tells him that he thinks his own conviction that they were soulmates probably just had a lot to do with the fact that Taylor was the first one who expressed any real interest in dating him hurts more than Kurt thought it would.

The relief doesn’t set in until Taylor leaves him behind nursing a cold cup of coffee. It takes him a few minutes to compose himself, but the weight lifted off his shoulders at the realization that the whole thing is over with is immense. He buries his head in his arms on the table, concealing his wide grin from the patrons who have been looking over in interest since the whole ordeal began.

The world feels a bit brighter when he steps back outside, and he still has 15 minutes before he has to start heading to class. Blaine has a 9am class today, too, but Kurt knows he’ll be on campus already, and it’s plenty of time to give him a call. This isn’t something Kurt would ever do over the phone, but he can set up a meeting, at least. It’s a long day of classes for Blaine, and they probably won’t get to meet up until the evening, but Kurt wants to make the plans as soon as possible to ensure that it gets done. The combination of his relief of what’s been done, the anticipation for meeting the rest of today’s more pleasant goals, and the lack of sleep make him feels giddy as he scrolls through his contacts to Blaine’s name, and he can hardly wait to hear Blaine’s voice again, even if it’s only been five hours since he heard it last.

Blaine doesn’t pick up the phone on the first ring, the second, or the third. Kurt , listens to each ring with increasing dread until the voicemail message plays. He stumbles his way through a message about wanting to meet Blaine somewhere today so they can talk and then regrets it as soon as he ends the call. He’d sounded upset, panicky, and hadn’t left any real indication that it will be a meet-up that ends positively. He immediately calls back, waits for the voicemail, and tries again, assuring Blaine that it’s good news before hanging up. That, too, seems awful when he thinks about it, like he thinks he’s some great prize and that Blaine has just been waiting around for him to call for weeks.

It takes him a few minutes, but he decides against a third voicemail and instead opts for a text message explaining that he doesn’t actually know whether it’s good news, it’s just that he really hopes so. Blaine doesn’t reply before Kurt’s class starts, and it’s hard to stash away his phone so he can at least pretend to pay attention to the instructor.

After class, Kurt gives Blaine a few more minutes to call back, and when he gets nothing, he really starts to panic. Kurt can’t apologize if Blaine won’t listen, and the image of Blaine ignoring all of his calls and texts the way Kurt had done to Blaine’s last month haunts Kurt all through his second class of the day and the previously-planned lunch date he has with some of his classmates. He’s done with class for the day after that, could return home, but going back to Brooklyn when Blaine is in Manhattan feels like giving up, so he sits in the student union and waits, desperately hoping that Blaine will call him back.

Kurt’s too nervous to get any work done, and all he can do besides calling Blaine’s number every 15 minutes is wonder about how he didn’t see the flaw today’s plan. His goal is to apologize to Blaine, get Blaine back in his life, fall in love and have a future with Blaine - but he’s already seen that future. It was the first future he’d glimpsed months back, and it was terrible. They fought all the time and were dreadfully unhappy. Kurt had been so sure this morning that he was on the right track, but the memories of his desperate attempts to get Blaine out of his future are harsh reminders that he still hasn’t got everything figured out.

When Kurt knows Blaine is about to head to his last class of the day, he finally leaves another voicemail. He didn’t want to do this over the phone, but he doesn’t have much of a choice. If he wants Blaine to give him another chance, he needs to start explaining himself.

“Blaine, you have every reason to be mad at me. I made a huge mistake and I’ve been awful to you and I’m calling because I want to apologize. I want to do it in person, though, because you deserve that. And also because I want to see you, it’s been ages and I miss you so much. Just… please, Blaine, give me one more chance to fix this. I don’t know quite _how_ yet but I know that seeing you is the first step. I know I probably don’t deserve your kindness, but you’ve always been kinder to me than was warranted, so I’m hoping I can take advantage of that kindness one last time, and then hopefully I’ll never have to again. Which makes it sound like maybe I’ll never see you again, which is not at all what I mean, just that I hope that I’ll start being a little more considerate of your feelings, because I know I’m not always great at that. I just… I would love the chance to try, Blaine. Please, _please_ call me back.”

Kurt waits 45 more minutes, but Blaine doesn’t call him back. Unless he tries to trick Blaine into answering his call by calling from Rachel’s phone instead, Kurt’s only option is to go to Blaine’s apartment and hope to catch Blaine on his way home from class. It’s harder to ignore someone in person than over the phone, and if Blaine has just been deleting all of his messages today without reading or listening, the way Kurt had handled Blaine’s messages back when he still got them, then Blane has no idea how serious Kurt is about fixing this, doing whatever it takes, even if he’s not fully sure quite what that is yet.

It’s pouring rain when he leaves the student lounge, and the bright sun that morning coupled with his preoccupation with other things has left him unprepared for the deluge. He has no umbrella, no waterproof jacket, nothing with a hood, and even though at this point he’s got much bigger problems than looking less than impressive for Blaine, the rain does act to slow him down a bit. His plan to beat Blaine back to his apartment and catch him before he can even refuse to let Kurt in is foiled when he arrives at the front door of Blaine’s building 15 minutes after Blaine usually gets home on Tuesdays. He sends one last text once he reaches Blaine’s stoop, announcing his presence and asking if Blaine will come down and open the door, then stands for five more minutes in the rain, his last lingering bits of hope slipping away. He’s never had to use the buzzer before, Blaine’s always just come down when Kurt sends a text. Kurt’s never never wanted to risk using that buzzer at all, always unsure of whether or not it would actually be Blaine who came to let him in. Today is about taking risks, though - it has to be, and Kurt steels himself for whatever may come as he presses his finger to the buzzer.

A few long, tense minutes pass, and Kurt is starting to contemplate the fire escape when he finally hears footsteps coming down the stairs inside the building. His breath catches in his throat as he peers through the window on the door, but he barely stops himself from cursing when he sees that the figure approaching isn’t Blaine.

“You promised me I’d never see you again,” Sebastian says as he opens the door. He makes no move to let Kurt in, just stands there in the doorway, one arm resting on the frame, and the smug grin on his face is _so_ similar to the one he’d given Kurt the night before when they were at that club five years in the future that Kurt almost wants to laugh. When he said this last night, had he been waiting for years, hoping to one day run into Kurt again just so he could use this line?

“I’m looking for Blaine,” Kurt says. “Can I come upstairs?”

Sebastian ignores him in favor of running his eyes up and down Kurt’s soaked body. “What’s wrong, an umbrella didn’t match your outfit today? You look like you just swam laps.”

Kurt grits his teeth, willing himself not to lose his temper. As unfortunate as it is, Sebastian is the only one who can help him right now. “I really need to talk to Blaine. I wouldn’t have bothered with the buzzer, but he hasn’t been answering my messages today, and this is important.”

“Ignoring your messages, huh?” Sebastian asks, acting conflicted. “Gee, I don’t know Kurt, I was _going_ to let you up, but if he’s ignoring your messages, maybe you should just take the hint and go away.”

“I think he’ll want to hear what I have to say,” Kurt says, even though he knows it sounds presumptuous. Sebastian, of course, remains amused.

“Well, I don’t know about him, but _I’m_ certainly interested in hearing you grovel,” he replies, stepping out of the doorway and so Kurt can come inside. “You can come upstairs. Blaine’s not here, though.”

Kurt’s halfway through the doorway when he stops. “What?”

“Blaine’s not here,” Sebastian says, enunciating each word carefully.

“So why are you inviting me upstairs?” Kurt can’t help but be suspicious.

“If standing out in the rain is more preferable to you than waiting upstairs, then by all means…”

“No, no,” Kurt says quickly. _Be polite,_ he tells himself. Though it’s hard, as he follows Sebastian up the stairs, he tries to think of the other man as the guy he’d seen last night in the future. The guy who sent Blaine in his direction, who got all this started, not the guy that he currently wants to punch in the face.

It’s awkward once they get up into the apartment - Besides a few future visits, Kurt’s never been here without Blaine around, and when Sebastian heads into the kitchen to grab a drink, Kurt stands in the living room, unsure of how comfortable he should be making himself. While glancing around the room, trying to keep his mind occupied, he catches sight of a familiar phone on the coffee table.

“I thought you said Blaine wasn’t here,” Kurt calls to Sebastian.

“He’s not,” Sebastian says, re-entering the room. “He left his phone here this morning.”

“So he didn’t get my messages,” Kurt murmurs, relieved, before turning to Sebastian with narrowed eyes. “And when were you going to tell me that?” Sebastian opens his mouth to reply, but Kurt stops him before he can start talking. “Nevermind, I’m sure I know the answer to that.”

Sebastian’s grinning. “In my defense, you didn’t ask me. But no, Blaine didn’t get any of your messages. Only I was here to deal with your pathetic pleas. That phone’s been going off for hours.”

Kurt’s eyes widen. “You went through Blaine’s messages?” he screeches, horrified at the thought of Sebastian listening to his heartfelt, rambly voicemail. “Those are _private_ , Sebastian! What is wrong with you?”

“Of course I went through his messages,” replies Sebastian, unperturbed. “Blaine and I are _best friends._ It’s the sort of stuff best friends do, you know? We’re _very_ close.”

Kurt bites his tongue, willing himself to calm down before replying. Sebastian is messing with him, trying to hit him right where it hurts, and he’s always had such a knack for it. When he feels ready to speak again, Kurt says, as calmly as possible, “You’re not going to scare me away this time, Sebastian. It worked in high school, but it’s not going to work now.”

He expects a smartass retort or another smug grin, but he doesn’t get either.

“Good,” Sebastian says, and Kurt’s too surprised to reply before Sebastian continues. “Though I suppose this means I’ll have to go back to being nice to you, which was really very difficult to me.”

Kurt scrunches up his face in confusion. “What? When have you ever been nice to me?”

“For like two weeks, right before you bailed,” Sebastian replies. “Blaine demanded it. I mostly managed by just avoiding you altogether.”

Though Kurt had noticed Sebastian’s scarcity in the weeks before his fight with Blaine, he’d never imagined that Blaine had finally spoken up about Sebastian’s behavior. He didn’t think it was possible to feel worse than he already did for ditching Blaine, but this new information makes him ache with regret. It also reaffirms his dedication to being here right now, to apologizing and fixing what he broke. Blaine is worth it, he always has been, and Kurt can’t believe it took him this long to figure it out.

“I suppose that is the best way you could be nice to me,” Kurt agrees after a moment. “You didn’t really listen to my voicemails, did you?”

“I checked to see who the calls were from,” says Sebastian. When he sees Kurt narrowing his eyes, he continues. “I was checking to see if it might have been a family emergency or something and I’d have to go find him on campus. I didn’t read or listen to anything, you can relax.”

Though it does make Kurt feel a little better to hear that Sebastian doesn’t know how pathetic the messages were, it’s impossible for him to relax right now. He’s in this apartment with Sebastian, waiting to apologize to someone who might not even be willing to accept it yet. The fact that he hasn’t been willfully ignoring Kurt all day is good news, but it doesn’t guarantee that Blaine will be happy to see him. The Blaine he saw last night was willing to talk to him, but five years had passed. In 2016, Kurt’s betrayal is still fresh, and he might not take kindly to coming home to find Kurt waiting in his apartment. Maybe Sebastian knows that, and _that’s_ why he invited Kurt up here. Why hadn’t Kurt thought this through? Why hadn’t he brought a gift?

The door to the apartment crashes open before Kurt can continue his panicked line of thought further, and he hears Blaine as he and Sebastian turn around to face the entryway.

“You will not _believe_ the day I have had,” Blaine grouses as he stomps into the apartment. He’s soaking wet from head to toe, his dark curls plastered to his forehead and his clothes dripping onto the carpet. “First, I forget my phone, then my first final was _completely_ ridiculous, and I probably failed--”

“You always say shit like that,” Sebastian interrupts. “I will bet you one hundred dollars that you did not get lower than an A minus.”

Blaine finally looks over at him. “I’ll take that bet, I _know_ that--” he cuts himself off when he spots Kurt standing in the living room with Sebastian, and his eyes widen. “Kurt? What… um, what are you doing here?”

Sebastian heaves a dramatic sigh. “Well, Kurt, I guess we can’t hide it any longer. Blaine, Kurt and I have been secretly dating. Wow, it feels so much better having that out in the open, doesn’t it, sweetie?” He nudges Kurt’s shoulder, but Kurt ignores him, taking a step toward Blaine.

“I tried calling,” he says.

“But I didn’t have my phone,” finishes Blaine, who only shoots Sebastian a glare in response to his joke.

“That joke wasn’t actually at Kurt’s expense,” Sebastian intercedes.

Kurt keeps his eyes on Blaine. “I was hoping we could talk?”he asks, biting his lip.

Blaine still seems shell-shocked, and even though he’s dripping all over the carpet, Kurt’s finding it hard to control his urge to run up to him and wrap him up in a hug, hold him close and never let go. It takes Blaine a minute to nod. “Um, yeah, we can… I just need to…”

“Dry off?” Kurt suggests. Blaine’s agreement wasn’t overwhelmingly enthusiastic, but it wasn’t a no, either, and that’s a good start.

“Yeah, and change, and…” Blaine trails off, rubbing a hand over his chin. He’s got a few days’ worth of stubble there, much like the day Kurt had first seen him again at Starbucks. “Sebastian, can you go out for a little while so we can have some privacy?”

Sebastian frowns. “You’re going to make me go out in that? Maybe you guys should be going out if you want privacy so badly, you’re already soaked.”

Blaine glances as Kurt before turning his pleading gaze back to Sebastian, and Kurt realizes Blaine is doing this for his benefit. Right now, Blaine is choosing Kurt over Sebastian in this small way, and he’d probably go further, too, would choose Kurt over Sebastian in the way Kurt demanded of him in high school, and in his very first visit to the future, when everything with Blaine was so messed up.

It didn’t work in the past or the future, and it’s not going to work now. _That’s_ the issue, the missing piece Kurt hasn’t been able to figure out, and as soon as he realizes it, he blurts out, “He doesn’t have to leave!”

Sebastian gives him a suspicious look while Blaine raises an eyebrow in question, so Kurt continues. “Um, if you were kicking him out because of me, I mean. If you want him gone, that’s fine, I just…” Kurt swallows. “I don’t mind if he stays. Not that I want him staring at us while we talk or anything, but…”

Sebastian rolls his eyes. “I’ll be in my bedroom with earplugs in case you guys get around to the make-up sex,” he says as he turns toward the hallway.

There’s a silence between Kurt and Blaine for a few seconds, and when it doesn’t appear that Blaine is going to be going into his bedroom to change, Kurt clears his throat to explain himself further.

“I really don’t like Sebastian,” he says, “but I shouldn’t have made you choose between us. He’s your friend, and that’s really important. I’m glad you have someone like that. I don’t know if I’d even still even be in New York if it weren’t for Rachel, and I shouldn’t hold that against you. I shouldn’t have held it against you in high school, and I _really_ shouldn’t have held it against you in the future.”

Blaine furrows his brow. “In the future?”

“Oh, I don’t think I ever actually told you that part,” Kurt says. “The very first time I went into the future, we were fighting about Sebastian.”

“No, you left out that detail.”

Kurt grimaces. “Sorry. Probably should have gone in the notebook, huh?”

Blaine huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, probably.”

“Well, there was the implication that you had cut Sebastian out of your life, and that you did it for me, and that’s…” Kurt sighs. “It’s just never going to work, if we do that, is it?”

“I asked Sebastian to stop being an asshole to you,” Blaine says. “I don’t know if it even made a difference.”

“It did.”

“I should have asked him sooner.”

“Yeah, that would have been nice,”agrees Kurt. “But nothing I did helped the situation either. I don’t know if you noticed, but I was sort of… madly in love with you in high school.” It’s the first time Kurt’s ever admitted this to Blaine, but it’s not as scary or as embarrassing as expected. “There’s a good chance I would have hated any boyfriend you had, regardless of how nice they were.”

“You thought you were madly in love with me?”

“Yeah. I probably wasn’t really, but it sure felt like it.” Kurt pauses, taking a breath. “I’m pretty sure I am now, though.”

Blaine’s jaw drops. “You’re… um. Okay. Wow.”

“I really messed up,” Kurt continues. Before Blaine arrived, he’d had no idea how he would approach this, but now that he’s talking, he can’t seem to stop. “In high school, yeah, but even worse now. It took me way too long to figure out that the reason I couldn’t fix my future is because I didn’t even know what fixing it meant. Nothing I did ever made things right with Taylor, and then last night, we ran into each other, and--”

“In the future?”

“Yeah, we were at a club and seeing you was just… it felt like coming home, it was perfect. And then I saw your note in my wallet and…” Kurt trails off, then takes a steadying breath even as he feels tears gathering in his eyes. “I finally get it now. This was about fixing things with _you_. I should never have cut you out of my life, you were being so wonderful. I was just so scared after what I saw that night and I didn’t know how to handle it.

“Blaine, I’m so sorry. I apologized in the future but you will never see that future, because I’m not going to let it happen, so I’m going to apologize to you again now. You’re so important to me, and I’ve missed you so much, and I can’t imagine how mad you must be at me. I fully understand if you don’t feel the same, I know that any romantic connection we had was probably ruined for you after how I treated you, but if you could find it in your heart to let me try and make this up to you and consider being my friend again, I promise that I will try really hard to stop being so stubborn.”

Blaine huffs out a laugh. “But not fully, I hope? I like you stubborn.”

Kurt gives him a watery smile, still longing to reach out and pull Blaine into a hug. It would probably be returned, Blaine’s eyes are soft and kind. “Not fully,” Kurt agrees, wiping at his eyes. “Is it okay if I hug you? I’ve wanted to since the minute you walked through the door.”

Blaine’s grin widens. “Always okay,” he says, and Kurt’s arms are wrapped around him almost immediately. Blaine returns the hug, lets Kurt bury his face in his neck, then says, “Sorry I’m getting you wet.”

Kurt laughs. “Totally worth it,” he says, squeezing tighter.

“Since we’re asking permission for stuff,” Blaine says a bit quieter as he rubs his cheek against Kurt’s, “would it be okay if I kissed you?”

“Yes,” Kurt breathes out as joy overtakes him. “Yes, definitely.”

He moves his face back from Blaine’s neck a few inches, just enough to give them the space to press their lips together. Feeling Blaine’s lips against his is even better than Kurt remembers, and though the kiss started out soft, it deepens quickly. Kurt moves his arms from Blaine’s shoulders into his wet hair to press him even closer, and Blaine lets out a whimper that Kurt feels all the way down to his toes before pulling back from the kiss and resting his forehead against Kurt’s.

“Aren’t you still seeing Taylor?” he asks, out of breath. “I guess I probably should have asked that before, huh?”

Kurt grins. “I’m not. Did Rachel tell you that?”

“I didn’t ask,” Blaine insists. “But I called to ask her if you were okay, and she mentioned it, so I figured--”

“We broke up this morning. The whole thing was a disaster. Really, we broke up six months ago. I have just always been so convinced that he had to be the one for me. I liked the idea of having a soulmate so much that I didn’t even care that it didn’t feel right.”

“This morning?” Blaine asks, looking worried. He takes a step back, but Kurt follows, unwilling to break contact. “Are you okay? Are you sure that you’re ready for this?”

“Six months,” Kurt repeats. “God, Blaine, probably even longer. And I _knew_ it, really, I just didn’t know how to accept it.”

“Okay,” Blaine breathes, and Kurt can’t take the distance anymore. He presses his lips against Blaine’s, just a quick reassuring peck, then Blaine rests his head on Kurt’s shoulder. They’re quiet for a moment, standing in the middle of the living room holding each other close.

“I never let you dry off,” Kurt murmurs eventually, then feels Blaine shake with silent laughter against him.

“You’re pretty soaked yourself,” Blaine says as they separate. “I could find something for you to wear if you want to stay for a bit? We could order dinner so we don’t have to go out again.”

“I’d like that. Do you have finals tomorrow?”

“Just a vocal performance in the afternoon. I was gonna run through it a few times, but I’m mostly ready. Do you have anything tomorrow?”

Kurt shakes his head. “Performance on Thursday, then an exam on Friday, then I’m done.”

“Done forever,” Blaine adds.

“Forever,” echoes Kurt, smiling. “Graduation’s next week.”

“You could stay, if you want,” Blaine offers. “As long as you don’t mind borrowing clothes and giving me an hour or so to practice. I’m sure you can even find some suitable replacement products for your skincare regimen. Sebastian is surprisingly obsessive about his skin.”

Kurt grins. He doesn’t need any time to consider his answer. He’s not ready to leave Blaine’s side yet, not after so long without him, and Blaine seems to feel the same. “I’d love to stay.”

The night passes too quickly, but aside from quick showers and Blaine’s rehearsal time, they’re never more than a foot apart from each other. It’s an amazing feeling, to be able to reach out and touch Blaine whenever he wants, to feel Blaine’s hand in his, to press their lips together. Kurt’s glad that Sebastian stays holed up in his bedroom for most of the night, only emerging to grab food and visit the bathroom, so he doesn’t see much of their admittedly excessive displays of affection. There will be teasing in their future, though, Kurt’s sure. The thought doesn’t bother him that much.

The worries about what will happen when he falls asleep that night don’t present themselves until they curl up in Blaine’s bed that night, lying on their sides facing each other under the covers.

“What do you think’s gonna happen?” Blaine asks him. The room is dark, and Kurt can only see his shining eyes and the vague outline of his face. “Do you think you’re going to go into the future again?”

“I haven’t really thought about it that much,” Kurt admits. “I have no idea what’ll happen, really.”

“Do you think you’ve fixed things?”

Kurt thinks for a moment before answering. It had been so important that morning, to get everything done, to _fix_ everything before he fell asleep again, but now that he has and sleep is upon him, it doesn’t seem like the most important thing anymore. Whether or not he goes to the future, he’ll still be waking up here, to an immediate future that involves graduating from college and starting a new relationship with a wonderful man.

“I don’t know,” Kurt says finally, and Blaine reaches out to give his hand a squeeze. “But I think it’s okay if I haven’t quite got it all figured out yet. I think I’m definitely on the right track.”

-

When Kurt wakes up, he’s in bed next to Blaine. The room is lit with the morning sunlight and Blaine is pressed up against him, stirring awake as Kurt watches.

“Hey,” Blaine says when he opens his eyes.

“Hi,” Kurt says, unable to keep himself from giving Blaine a soft smile even though he hasn’t quite taken stock of this future yet. Things are off to a good start, at least. “Are we… okay? No one’s cheating, right? We’re actually together?”

Blaine looks amused. “Last time I checked. “

“And we’re happy?”

“Very,” Blaine assures him, and Kurt breathes a sigh of relief before Blaine continues. “Though we’ve only been dating for…” he trails off, squinting at the clock on the wall across the room, “14 hours. So I guess it’s a little too soon to make an accurate assessment.”

“Fourteen hours,” Kurt murmurs as the realization starts to sink in. “So I didn’t… this isn’t 2021.”

  
Blaine’s grin grows even wider. “Nope.”

“I didn’t go into the future.” It’s so hard to believe that he went to sleep and _slept_ instead of visiting some horribly imperfect version of the future.

“I guess not.”

Now that the shock has worn off a little, Kurt feels the joy fill his entire body as his own face breaks out in a giant grin. “I _slept_ ,” he says with a bright laugh before leaning forward to cup Blaine’s face and give him a kiss, which is enthusiastically returned.

“It’s still early,” Blaine says when they’ve pulled apart. “We could sleep more if you wanted.”

Kurt knows he’s too excited to sleep, but he can’t think of any better way to start off this new beginning than snuggling up in bed with Blaine.

“That is a wonderful idea,” Kurt agrees, shifting back into position.

Blaine’s asleep within minutes, and Kurt spends over an hour lying awake in the warm bed pressed up against him as the sun rises higher into the sky. He’s glad that he was right - that fixing the problems made the future visits stop. It’s strange to think that he doesn’t get to have a glimpse of the future anymore, that he will not be given the opportunity to know how things go with Blaine. He’s still not sure if he’s fixed things, but as he lies in bed watching Blaine sleep, Kurt feels safe in the knowledge that he doesn’t need to visit his own perfect future to know that it’s still a possibility for him, and that no matter how things end up, his present is a beautiful place to be.


End file.
